ESPHome: tracking passing of time in lambda

ESPHome
1

Hi,
I am trying to implement a simple “blink” light effect in a lambda, but I am struggling with the code.
It looks to me that millis() is not working in my lambda.
A simple snippet like this, is not working as expected.

light:
  - platform: fastled_clockless
    chipset: WS2811
    pin: GPIO15
    num_leds: 64
    rgb_order: GRB
    name: "Square Led"
    effects:
      - addressable_lambda:
          name: "ERM TEST"
          update_interval: 50ms
          lambda: |-
            uint32_t now = millis();
            ESP_LOGD("ERM", "now: %f", now);

That code is just giving me [11:08:40][D][ERM:509]: now: 0.000000 in logs.
If I can’t get the millis() function to work, I can’t go on with developing the led update routine.
The board is a ESP8266 NodeMCU.

Is it a bug? Am I doing something wrong?
How can I track “time” if not using mills()?
Thanks!