Despite the fact that we still haven't moved out of the pandemic many are making the attempt to "return to normal." Of course the biggest question is what does normal look like now? Many of us work from our homes instead of going into offices. There are those that opted to leave the corporate world behind and start their own ventures, and still others that made the jump to new careers. A lot has changed but a lot hasn't.
A good friend of mine wrote a piece several months back where he asked the question of us to look at our Lodges and determine if we are restarting our Lodges or resetting them - there's a big difference.
When you restart something, you just turn the key and return to the way you were doing them and when you reset you return it to a blank slate and start over. While I've talked to many and sat in a few Lodges, I'm not sure just how many are resetting things. It's a great time to change how your Lodge looks at things and how they are going to address challenges that lie ahead. I still see a lot of what was going on before the pandemic struck, not that that's a bad thing but you have to ask yourself, "could we do better?"
While it can be difficult to change the direction of a Lodge, to change the way things have been done for so long, remember, you can be the instrument of that change. Remember the image of that pebble dropping in the lake, the waves start out small but eventually touch the entire surface of that lake. Why not be that change? Why not reset your own expectations, take control of your Masonic journey and shift to a reset instead of taking what is by far the easier path of the restart?
If you like ritual work, grab a few of your Lodge Brothers and go and practice. If you want to delve into the meanings of the symbols and teachings, start a study group. Remember, while you belong to a Lodge it is your journey and this is a great time to explore those options. I mentioned last week that for many this has been a time of reflection, it's time to move on and take action.
What's your next step? Will it be to restart or reset?
I view our emergence from the pandemic as the perfect opportunity to reset our Lodges. In Washington we were unable to meet for well over a year, and as such, to my mind, all of the bad old habits and questionable practices that developed over decades were swept away.
This is the absolutely perfect time for Freemasonry to begin fresh again, to walk away from all of those bad habits, and to improve itself.
I sincerely hope that the opportunity is seized.