I remember starting out more than 20 years ago as a Youth Minister in the Catholic Church thinking that this experience would help to foster my spirituality. Not only would I be able to work with God’s people, but I could also spend significant time in prayer each day. After all, my office was right in a church. But reality struck several months into my ministry when I had the terrible realization that I was actually spending less time in prayer. I became a victim of what my spiritual director called "spirituality by proximity." I lead prayer services, helped form catechists, taught teens how to pray—all in a church setting—but my personal prayer life suffered.