Brethren,
Welcome to October! I have always viewed this month as one of change, shorter days, turning leaves,
colder nights and birds gathering for their southern winter vacation flight, and of course Scotchtoberfest!
Change is something we Masons should be intimately aware of when we came from darkness to see the light. No doubt this brought about a change in you, in your heart and your mind. Brothers, I submit to you that the change doesn’t stop there. Everything changes around you every day and you find yourself changing with it in some way as a man and a Mason. You’ve heard it said recently that Freemasonry must change and we, being the leaders of today, must be that change if we are to grow. But first, change must come from your heart.
You’ve heard me speak many times this year about the ‘heart’ of Masonry, what it means to you in your heart and what you do with it. Gentlemen, we all live in the human condition, subject to fault and error, but this also comes with our ability to change an error or turn a fault to good, and an often-forgotten skill to forgive.
So, I challenge you to remind yourself of the obligations you’ve made as a Mason, to all mankind especially the Brethren but first and foremost: to yourself. We have each other’s back and are there for one another, we NEVER quit on each other, we look to each other for guidance in bad times and we NEVER turn our backs on each other. Although the slogan of the Musketeers’ has been well used, it’s very appropriate here, “All for one and one for all”. It’s about all of us, not one of us!
See you all in lodge!
Ken Long – Worshipful Master