Pastor for life

They say pastors resign on Monday morning. If you are a pastor and you preached one or two sermons over the weekend and ministered in a million ways to all who needed you, you probably know that after-the-glory blues feeling. Often the highs of the Sabbath are followed by the lows the next day. In your tired brain, you go through reruns of the myriad of incidents that crowded your demanding day. The elevated emotions of vigorous preaching took so much out of you that you know you will need a few days to recover from exhaustion. One look into the mirror and you see that the aging process has accelerated, possibly irreversibly. And then that email or phone call casts doubts on your integrity, sincerity, or accuracy—a put-down that effectively knocks you down. After going through this wave-crashing experience for a number of years, a Monday morning resignation seems like a welcome release into anything but pastoral work. Though some would disagree, many would insist that never before have pastors struggled more with too much work, too many unsolvable problems, far too much stress, and too little job satisfaction.