Dear Beacon:

Have you had enough of waiting? 

Are you waiting for life to begin? Waiting until it’s safe to emerge from your room. Waiting for your schooling to be in person again. Waiting for your divorce to be finalized. Waiting to have enough money to do what you really want to do. Waiting to quit your job. Waiting for healing to happen. 

Robert Greene says that there are two types of time in our lives: dead time, when people are passive and waiting, and alive time, when people are learning and practicing and utilizing every second as a path towards transformation. Please also understand that “down time” is not necessarily dead time. Rejuvenation of the mind, body and spirit are considered alive time! 

Dead time is more about being passive. And I must confess. I am more passive than active. I too often wait for life to happen to me rather than seeking the life I am desiring, because I am often afraid of judgment, failure, looking the fool. Not one of my best traits.

Nevertheless this time of waiting ~ something outside of our control ~ has presented me with the possibility of change. I am letting go of my passive ways by learning new skills that I tell myself I cannot do. Little things. What if What if I learned how to solve Rubix’s cube? What if I trained to run a 5K? What if I began creating friendships with people who interest me? What if I wrote one letter a week advocating for the end of fossil fuels? I am transforming dead time into alive time. 

Throughout my life, I have noticed how faith communities offer this possibility again and again: transforming dead time into alive time. Often through opportunities for deeper engagement. On its face, it can feel like another thing to do. More work. Yet I am shocked when I hear Beacon leaders and volunteers share how much their ministry has meant to them. 

Small groups (like community groups) offer an intentional and carefully crafted space to listen more deeply not only to your own inner voice but also to another’s, a voice that might be very different from your own. A flooding basement teaches you how to both ask your community for help and to receive it with some scrap of grace. Greeting on Sunday mornings allows you to practice seeing the humanity in each person, and thereby, welcoming your own humanity. Teaming up to create hands-on social justice activities for our community members rekindles your belief that you can work well with others. 

Suddenly, you are no longer waiting for life to begin. Because life is alive. 

Alive time is the path of possibility. Embrace it. Remember the wisdom of Booker T. Washington: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” There’s life there.

With a faith known as Love,

Emilie