Fall is Upon Us

 

Fall is Upon Us

By Midnight Freemasons Senior Contributor

Gregory J. Knott, 33°

The summer literally flew by.  Seems like yesterday I was welcoming Memorial Day and beginning of the summer season.  But it is fall now here and in the midwest, this means that the harvest is in full swing.  The farmers around me have been harvesting soybeans and corn and are making rapid progress towards wrapping up the harvest within just a couple of weeks as I write this.

So what lesson can we learn as a Freemason from the changing of the seasons?  The first and one of the most important is that time is not standing still.   In a 2022 article I wrote about the hour glass and how quickly the sands are passing through it.  As I get older, I have realized how precious time is.  Time is the most valuable resource we have. We all have the same amount of time each day and we have to make a decision of how we utilize it.   

Remember that 24 inch gauge mentioned in the Entered Apprentice degree?  The lesson emphasizes that the day is be divided into three equal parts: eight hours for service to God and a distressed worthy brother, eight for our usual vocations, and eight for refreshment and sleep.  The lesson is simple enough, yet extremely powerful when we apply it daily.

So here is my simple advice; slow down for a moment.  Consider are you utilizing your time resources in the best possible manner?  Are there things you should be spending time on, such as your personal health.  Are there things you should do of such as less time on social media.   Are there things you should just stop doing all together?

Only you can answer the question of how it is best to spend your time.  I will close with encouraging you to read the article by Midnight Freemason Contributor Emeritus - Steve Harrison 33° about the 24 inch gague.

I wish you a prosperous fall season!

~GJK

Greg Knott is a Senior Contributor to the Midnight Freemasons and has been a Freemason since 2007.

What An Opportunity!

by Midnight Freemasons Founder

Todd E. Creason

As the Coronavirus sweeps the nation and events are canceled, and many of us are working from home, we have to see this as an opportunity—especially for Masons. Sometimes we forget that being a Mason isn’t just about doing things—going to degrees, and meetings, and putting on events, and raising money for this pet project and that. There’s a personal growth aspect to the fraternity that many of us neglect. We’re so busy doing all the time, we never really get the chance to work on ourselves. We hear those words over and over again, but we never have the opportunity to actually think about them—how might I apply those concepts to my life?

So while we are at home, and the cabin fever begins to settle in (it has for me already and it’s day 3), instead of looking out the window longing to go to a meeting, take this opportunity to work on yourself. There’s a Japanese word “tsundoku” that I think has special meaning for me right now. Tsundoku is Japanese slang, and it refers to the practice of letting books pile up without reading them. It’s the combination of two Japanese characters—the one for “pile-up” and the one for “read.” I don’t know many Masons that don’t have a huge read pile they’ve been meaning to get to.

Why don’t you read them? What Masons seem focused on right now is figuring out how we can do virtual meetings. We can’t go a month without listening to our Secretary read the mail? What I did is I sat down last night and made a “Sanity List.” On that list, I wrote down a long list of books I have that I haven’t read—both on my library shelf, and books that have been sitting on my Kindle for a long, long time. I’ve started a list of article titles—I’ve been neglecting my writing for a long, long time. I put on that list household projects that I’ve ignored for a long time—Tuesday I finally took ten minutes and got the bugs out of the kitchen light. Whatever that list is for you, don’t waste the time watching Netflix or whatever. Here are a few ideas for you.

Start clearing that Tsundoku from your shelves. If you have time now and don’t read them, you never really wanted to read them to begin with. Give them to somebody that will read them.

Start a daily devotion. Whatever your beliefs, start your day over coffee and scripture. Think about those areas that you need to work on, and begin improving those areas.

Learn some ritual. Has there ever been a better time to sit down and begin learning that lecture you’ve always meant to get to, or that part you’ve always wanted to do?

Seriously look at your schedule. Over the last few days, I’ve realized there are way too many unnecessary meetings—meetings that we are quickly finding out could have been an email. Look at where you’re spending your time and your energy and ask yourself if there are things you’re expending energy on that would be better used elsewhere.

Those are just a few off the top of my head. But make use of this time—don’t squander it away. Don’t look back at this season as a missed opportunity. Make the best possible use of it. This could be a turning point in your life. This could be your reset button. This could be an unprecedented opportunity to look at yourself, look at your life, look at where you’ve been and where you want to go. An opportunity to work on yourself, learn some new skills, chip a few chunks off that rough ashlar. Many of us don’t know how long this will last—maybe a short time, or perhaps a very long time. It doesn’t really matter how much time it is before we return to normalcy—what’s important is to use it to its full advantage.

 ~TEC

Todd E. Creason is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog.

The 24 Inch Gauge – Size Does Matter

by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor

WB Robert E. Jackson

I was on a business trip, first one I've taken in a long time. Taking advantage of the 'free' time I had, I decided to catch up on some reading. There was a specific article that needed to be shared with my wife….an article entitled "It's not Masonry, he's just an (expletive)-hole." Her immediate response was "Is this for you or me?" I thought that was a good question, and I was thankful to this article for helping initiate a very difficult conversation…was I risking too much? How out of whack was my 24" gauge? As happens from time to time, my wife helped me view my situation from a different angle.

Throughout the discussion, I was trying to explain that I was trying to balance my responsibilities, but I felt that as Master, I needed to support each event on our calendar. Most frustrating was the fact that only a very few Brothers really stepped forward to help with the various endeavors. When they don't show up, my internal demons start theorizing…do they care? Is the latest episode of 'Dance Moms' really more important to them than our Lodge? What I didn't see, without her help, is that it is entirely possible that those men are active in their own way…being coaches, colleagues, fathers, husbands. Could it simply be possible that these men have a better handle of their 24 inch gauge?

I still joke, on occasion, about that working tool in our repertoire. Yes, we know of the even 24 divisions, but any further divisions aren't claimed to be divided evenly! As a self diagnosed workaholic, this lesson really resonated with me, and resurfaces every time I work late or find myself wasting time. Much like our political persuasions, or spiritual beliefs, a major strength of our Fraternity is our diversity. This includes the diversification of our priorities. For many of our Brothers, their family does come first. For others, their jobs come first. It isn't our position to judge, but it is our position to learn. The management of our time is a life skill, one that we must continue to hone each and every day. Unless, of course, your name is Brother Alessandro Cagliostro.

~REJ

Robert Edward Jackson is a Past and presiding Master of Montgomery Lodge located in Milford, MA. His Masonic lineage includes his Father (Robert Maitland), Grandfather (Maitland Garrecht), and Great Grandfather (Edward Henry Jackson), a founding member of Scarsdale Lodge #1094 in Scarsdale, NY. When not studying ritual, he's busy being a father to his three kids, a husband, Boy Scout Leader, and a network engineer to pay for it all. He can be reached at info@montgomerylodge.org