What's it like?

To a newly ordained priest, the question is often asked:

"What's it like to be a priest?"

Allow me to explain in greater detail than small talk after Mass might allow for:

IT IS EXACTLY WHAT I EXPECTED IT TO BE.

I expected it to be an incredible amount of work and immensely rewarding.  Everyday I wake up shocked by two things:  how much I have to do and how much I love doing it.  While fretting over my present responsibilities, I still daydream about new projects and new ways of getting God's message of love out there to people.  The harvest is plenty, the laborers are few.

I expected it to be crowded and lonely, happy and sad.  I'm thankful for my many friends (priests or not) who continually offer their support and encouragement through what is truly a roller coaster life.  I'm thankful for my daily prayer, that mainstay of God's presence that stands as a reminder to me that I am not alone, that I can breathe in his Spirit throughout the day so as to not choke on the fumes of doubt and selfishness.

I expected myself to be completely prepared for it, insofar as I trusted that God was in control, and completely unprepared insofar as I might trust to my own abilities and plans.

I expected to be surprised.  I expected not to know how to handle half of what comes my way.  I expected complete and utter newness.

And yet, I expected to know just what to do or say whenever doing or saying was requisite.  God has yet to fail me in this regard (though I do have a bad habit of letting my own ideas get in the way of his).

I expected to be confident that this is my calling, that God has me where he wants me.
It is exactly what I expected it to be.