Each month our corps members complete written reflections as one way to process the year and the experience of living in intentional community. The following is part of the reflection current corps member Reid Russom shared at the beginning of this month.
This month has me thinking about the JSC core value of character. February is when the cold and dark evenings start to weigh on everyone’s moods, when grad school deadlines and decisions loom, when your groove at work starts to feel monotonous, and when, after six months of being in community, you start to feel like you could do a pretty good job of impersonating a housemate if needed. It’s tempting to start transitioning to the next thing, forgetting that just under half of the JSC year is left. The time that remains holds the promise for much more growth and many more memories, and I want to be conscious of that time rather than letting it slip away.
Recently, I’ve been obsessively listening to Gang of Youths’ most recent album, Go Farther in Lightness. It’s exactly my kind of music, full of seven-minute rock ballads that are equal parts introspection, melancholy and celebration of life. If I can be typical enneagram 4 and quote song lyrics like this is a Tumblr post, the chorus of one song goes like this:
Do not let this thing you’ve got go to waste
Do not let your heart be dismayed
It’s here by some random disclosure of grace
From some vascular, great thing
Let your life grow strong and sweet to the taste
‘Cause the odds are completely insane
Do not let your spirit wane
Do not let your spirit wane
“It’s here by some random disclosure of grace” has stuck with me. In many ways, this service year has been more like ‘normal life’ than I was expecting: long days at work, thinking about dinner and laundry in the evening, but it’s also been full of profoundly special moments and genuine connections with people I’ve come to love. It’s a model for how to make the every-day things sacred. That’s part of what I hope to take with me from this year, and it’s not something I want to waste while I’m in it.