I took a productivity course a number of years ago called “Mission Control”
that was geared toward showing you how to live your life and spend your time in
ways that are consistent with your commitments— living with the end in mind. In
short, the course taught you how to define what mattered to you, to understand
what you spent your time on that was consistent and inconsistent with these
commitments, and how you organized your time around these commitments. All the
participants developed personal mission statements and backed them out yearly,
monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly.
As an example, if ending
childhood hunger was a cause that mattered to you today, and if during your
eulogy it was noted that you had made a difference for hundreds of hungry
children in the DC area, what happened along the way? What did it all look like
in the world, one year after the commitment was expressed? What did it look
like one year before it was fulfilled?
We were taught to map our decades, years, months, weeks, days, and hours, expressing our commitments in our calendars. It was one of the best three-day periods I have ever spent. I learned how to focus my energy on what actually mattered to me and was consistent with my personal mission.
As a congregation, we will begin a similar conversation at our retreat on October 1st. What is our vision and what is our mission? In ten years, what will UUS look like? Who will be among us, sharing worship and a personal path to spirituality? What will we have done in the world? What about in 5 years? What about this time next year?
I encourage you to think—before we gather on October1st—about what UUS provides for you. Consider what was important for you to know before you walked through the doors the first time. What might others who have not walked through our doors but who are looking for a spiritual home need to know before they arrive? Our vision and mission should be not only for everyone already here, but also for those we have yet to welcome.
What is your personal mission as a spiritual individual? Does your participation at UUS serve that mission? What are you up to in your life? At the end, what will you have spent your time on that serves that mission? What good work will we have done together?
Our retreat is for our entire congregation to begin the work of creating our vision and mission. New members, founding members, friends—all are encouraged to attend!
Dorine Colabella Scher
Board President
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