Isolation

Yesterday I was recognized for a mile mark in years of service with my current employer. Wow - I've known some of the people I work with for a long time! Even some of the co-workers who I've only known for a short part of my tenure are people with whom I've spent many many hours. And I think I spend more time in the room in which I work at my paid job than I spend in any other space than my bed.

In contrast, I spend little bits of time with parents, children and others at church. (Not to mention my limited time with my own family, but thats a separate topic, sort of.) I experience increasingly good connections in those times. But they seem so limited and undeveloped. I want so much more.

I want to quit my job and study theology, work out a whole bunch of ideas I have for children's and family ministry at church, and connect with other parents and ministers and people of my faith and of other faiths and of no faith at all. I want to engage in all sorts of this kind of endeavor. I want to be able to dedicate time to this - without stealing it from so many other parts of my life and I want to be able to dedicate enough time to this to make more than the little bit of slow progress I seem to be able to make.

But even if I quit my job to do that (which I don't really consider a viable option, just a dream), would it really work? Where are the people to connect with? I'm an introvert, so I can sit here at my computer or go over to church and have a good time doing all kinds of projects all by myself. But in the end, much of my goal is to have something together as a community. And how can I have or develop that community based on the little snatches of time that myself or any of the rest of us can muster to spend time connecting in one form or the other?

Some good things are happening and I guess I just have to keep at it....keep building on those...and I plan to....but right now I'm impatient, frustrated, discouraged, questioning.

Anybody have any perspective? The same or different?