Rebuilding and Rededicating the Temple

I am a Freemason. My credo as a Freemason is: Its not about me changing them, its about me changing me.

Recently, I have lost sight of that lofty goal, and in some small measure, of the very credo that I discovered. A brother whispered good counsel to me a month ago, and I did not hear him clearly. Events of the past few days have reminded me to not only keep the compasses clearly in sight, but also to keep them firmly in hand.

Over the past few days, I allowed my passions to get the better of me, starting with a silly spat over politics and masonry. I made a simple comment to a brother, which in retrospect was unnecessary, after all, its about me changing me, not me changing him. Reviewing my reasoning for even commenting to him on it, I find myself lacking. I thought I was whispering good counsel, but it was more about my offense at the issue he was posting on than the posting politics as a mason that I addressed.

This lead to a somewhat silly, and childish, exchange of "pleasantries" between us, which resulted in a stupid blog on my part, which hurt his feelings... frankly, the whole exchange resulted in a LOT of hurt feelings, with brothers on all sides of the issue whispering (and in some cases, screaming {thanks Br. CH}) good counsel. As a result, I have more carefully examined my motives, what I want, what I am trying to achieve.

Accomplishing this, or rather, taking the first step on this, I have deleted four blog entries which serve no useful purpose, and have re-edited the Politics and Masonry thread to remove any references to any one blog, web site, or other specific practice. For those of you that have whispered (or screamed) good counsel, thank you... I think I am finally hearing it. For those of you that have stayed with me while I rode up off the rails, I thank you.

Time to move on to really practicing masonic tenets.

May the blessings of heaven rest upon us and all regular masons. May brotherly love prevail, and every moral and social virtue, cement us!