I am always drawn to the idea of Jesus going off by himself to pray in Matthew 14. As an introvert, I get that. I understand the need to go apart before you come apart. Imagining Jesus being in the middle of everything that Jesus gets in the middle of – teaching, healing, leading, and then hearing his family member (John the Baptizer) has been executed – it’s a lot. In Matthew 14, Jesus needs a break and he takes a break. He goes off by himself to pray. He hits the reset button for himself. Eventually he’s able to come back into the work space, but he comes back and doesn’t do all the work himself. He puts the disciples to work and thus we have the story of the feeding of 5,000 with a few fish and a couple of loaves of bread.

I’ve heard many interpretations of this story over the years. The detail I’m always drawn to is the idea that Jesus took time for himself to pray and then he came back and used his team to do the next thing. It’s a story that illustrates the importance of both solitude and community.

We need both solitude and community. As an introvert, I recharge best when I get time to myself but I also need people (introversion is often mistaken as being antisocial and while someone might be antisocial, introversion is more complex than that). Extroverts flourish in the company of others, and they need time on their own. We need both solitude and community. How we create space for that varies based on our circumstances, and it might be that we need to be more intentional about seeking time on our own and time with our community.

The encouragement in Matthew 14, I think, is to be intentional and know you already have permission to be intentional about seeking solitude and seeking community. No matter what else is on the to-do list, we can and need to make space for what our spirits need. Look, even Jesus took space to be on his own. And he made space for the community to help. “You feed them,” Jesus said. Jesus doesn’t just do all the things on his own all of the time all by himself. There’s something compelling about knowing we need Jesus and knowing Jesus chooses to need us, too. We’re in the work together. We are co-creators in God’s creation.

May you find rest in whatever way your spirit needs rest. May your community uphold you in that rest and may the community also enrich you in all the ways that will lift you up and help you grow. And may your time in solitude be fruitful.