Jumping in the Pool

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Robert H. Johnson

As the COVID cases begin to rise again, likely due to people letting their guards down a bit, we have more and more people around the globe getting a vaccine. I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine recently--and no. I have no side effects. Although, I am aware that the second dose may be a doozy. A small price to pay to protect those people I love and of course that includes my Brothers.

My Masonic involvement has really dwindled--my actual duties to an organization are really light these days. I suspect many Brothers and Sisters are in this same boat. Before COVID hit, I had demitted from my Mother Lodge and really focussed on Spes Novum, the Lodge we formed here in the North-East corner of Ilinois. I went from Royal Arch and Council Meetings on Tuesdays, A Blue Lodge meeting on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, plus various speaking gigs, to just...one Friday a month.

Wow--am I right? This gave me some free time I needed with my family. I went back to school. I doubled down on other ventures in writing and media production. But something was missing. I didn't know how to approach it really. After some reflection, it was revealed that the missing thing was in-person Masonry and also, a new challenge.

With the prospect of Spes Novum meeting in person again in the coming months, I'm excited. I'm the secretary. It's a great job that I expect to hold for the rest of this year and likely 2022 as well. After that, I will retire from the officer line of my symbolic Lodge--destined to become, as one member put it, Senior Sideliner. But, what else can I do? How do I approach it?

Just jump into the damn pool, Robert! So I did. I've applied to a few different Masonic organizations in order to see if I can assist by actually "getting in line." It was a really weird thing to decide to do. After all, I have been absent from a progressive/elected line for nearly six years. And you know, the only reason I got into it the first time was out of a debt I felt I owed my Mother Lodge. I served.

Now that my kids are a little older, things are more stable and I am finding myself with some time I'd like to dedicate to more service to Masonry at my local level. So...I just jumped in. Sometimes that's what it takes. I've mentioned it more than a few times in my writings and presentations. Nike has been giving us the secret for years--right in front of our faces. "Just do it."

If you've been mulling it over, waiting for a reason to get involved, go for it. Let's walk down to the quarry together and get back to work.

~RHJ

RWB Johnson is a Co-Managing Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the 2nd N.E. District of Illinois. He currently serves as the Secretary of Spes Novum Lodge No. 1183. He is a Past Master of Waukegan Lodge 78 and a Past District Deputy Grand Master for the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts weekly Podcasts (internet radio programs) Whence Came You? & Masonic Radio Theatre which focuses on topics relating to Freemasonry. He is also a co-host of The Masonic Roundtable, a Masonic talk show. He is a husband and father of four, works full time in the executive medical industry. He is the co-author of "It's Business Time - Adapting a Corporate Path for Freemasonry", “The Master’s Word: A Short Treatise on the Word, the Light, and the Self – Annotated Edition” and author of "How to Charter a Lodge: A No-Nonsense, Unsanctioned Guide. More books are on the way.