In the last scene of the Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”, George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart) receives the book from his guardian angel called “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. A caption inside reads “Remember no man is a failure who has friends.” Being a member of the greatest fraternity in the world, we all have many friends including some we haven’t even met yet.
I want to start by saying thank you for being my friend and for giving me the opportunity to serve this great fraternity! But before I get into my message, I want to ask everyone for their support and for your prayers.
Our task is to move our fraternity forward. With your help and having us all working together we can accomplish great things.
Finding good men to become a member of our fraternity is our first goal. I believe that adding three or four new Masons to every lodge would decrease the number of lodges that need to close or merge. Losing any lodge is not where we want to go. When lodges merge or close, it only hurts us and the communities that we live in. Let’s find those good men and start building our future.
After finding those new candidates, it is imperative that we place them with a good mentor. Mentors should not only work with them on their posting, but also develop a friendship with them. Once we make him a friend, that’s when he really becomes a Brother.
Our posting materials are an important part of our learning. It gives each man the tools to make himself into a better man! Good posting and mentoring without any short cuts are the key to our success. Spending the right amount of time getting to know him will pay dividends later. He will have nothing but good reasons for continuing on with our fraternity.
Another use for our posting books is to retrain our Brothers. We have used them in some lodges as an educational program. I know Brothers that are 40- and 50-year members that have told me they have learned things from these books! Start using them and you may be surprised how much fun and conversation you will have. Having good education is important for all of our members.
Lastly, I would love for your lodge to get into a discussion on how you can share brotherly love. Write down those ideas and start using them. Share them with your AAs and DDGMs so they can share them with other lodges so we can all grow together. It will make for some interesting conversation and hopefully make your lodge better.
We believe this is a great time to move our fraternity forward. Young people are interested in what we have to offer. Just make sure we are giving them something. Teach them how important our friendships are and how great it is to have Brothers all over the world. Take them along on lodge visitations, Masonic funerals and other places so they get to see that we are much bigger than just their own lodge.
Remember, “it is the little things that make a big difference!”
My Brothers, I thank you for making a difference in this great fraternity and thanks for all that you do!!
Keep smiling and as always, “luv ya Brothers!”
Brother Gary
