It is now time for an April message. This is almost too easy! Mother Nature gears up to renew herself with the longer days and the refreshment of spring rains. Likewise, our Lodges begin to hit their stride now that the officers have three months under their belts. This should be the start of our Lodges’ most productive quarter. We all need to pitch in to make it so. I used to work for a General Officer named “Red” Fuller. He kept saying, “Plan your work and work your plan.”
I believe he had it right. Keep up with our Brothers’ progress through their degrees. Counselors should ask for and get regular progress reports from the assigned Mentors in open lodge. If they need help, pitch in! We must work the plan for our upcoming Brothers and stick to it.
Brother Secretaries, keep track of attendance and use that information to identify absent Brothers and keep your Master informed. We need to get our Brothers back into the habit of coming to lodge, and once again enjoying being an active Brother. Please make this your personal crusade. Masters, between yourself and your Wardens, reach out and personally invite Brothers to attend and involve them. Populate your Lodges during degrees. Let’s support a renewed attendance drive by planning and executing programs that will benefit the Brothers and their families. Look at the ideas that have come from the Lodges during our Listening Visits. These have been published here in the Wisconsin Masonic Journal.
With an emphasis on getting Brothers out to and active in Lodge, don’t loose sight of what I call our Cornerstone Brothers. You know of whom I speak, those Brothers who would have to be bedridden to miss Lodge. I am a member of Lodge No. 277 in Chetek. In that Lodge one of those Cornerstone Brothers is a Brother named Jim Sells. Jim is a 60 Year Mason and is always there to help a Brother. He is always ready to put Brotherhood ahead of any other impulse. Jim is at Lodge with a smile on his face and his hand outstretched to greet and support any Brother. Let’s find the time and means in our Lodges to recognize and thank these Brothers who are surely the cornerstones upon which our Lodges stand.
So there you have it, as we hit the time for us to capitalize on our own momentum as a Lodge, let us do the right things. We may stumble and have a hiccup now and then, but it is better that we do the right things to the best of our ability . . . than the wrong things to perfection.
God Bless our Brotherhood,
Frank Struble
Grand Master
