TFS by Ed Halpaus

         TFS #208     
Posted by:      "Ed Halpaus"            erhmasonic@gmail.com                                       hiram223        
      Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:40 pm        (PST)   

        *T.F.S.*
*Three, five, and seven*
*3    5    7*
By Stan Shapiro MD, Grand Lodge Education Officer G.L. of MN
#208
The following article was sent to me by Brother Gerald A. Edgar, who lives
in Iowa and is a fine writer. He is a member of The Minnesota Grand Lodge
Education Committee and Writers Guild.
*“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life; comes into us at midnight
very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands;
it hopes we've learned something from yesterday."  *
*-Bro. Marion R. Morrison,** a famous English essayist. *
*The following are excellent words of instruction:*
Tomorrow is indeed "another day" - fresh & inviting IF we approach it as
such.  Past failures & regrets can be reversed if we embrace the new
day. As Masons we can successfully approach tomorrow when we rely on the
lessons gleaned from our "yesterdays" when we were Entered, Passed &
Raised.  Perhaps even more importantly, those lessons are reinforced and
amplified by the context AND content of our current Stated meetings.
Context: were we well informed of the meeting?  Do we receive an annual
calendar, a monthly newsletter, a phone call and/or an email notice?  Did
we enter into a well lit, clean, inviting structure?  Even an older brick
or frame building can be refurbished and dusted!   Were we greeted (and did
WE greet with equal warmth) in a true Brotherly way?  Did we enter the
Lodge hall with an expectation that we would indeed be "given proper
instruction"?
Content:  does the WM indeed put us to work and give us that proper
instruction he pledged at the opening of the Lodge?  Does the JW see that
none go away dissatisfied as he pledged to do?  As individual Masons we
have a two-fold obligation to truly 'listen' but also to hold our Officers
to the obligations they took when invested with their offices.
Godparents pledge to assist the new parents in bringing their children up
in faith.  As members of our respective Lodges, we have made it a
sworn duty to support our officers but also to share our high expectations
AND willingness to assist in meeting those expectations.   Do we give
constructive feedback to our Officers and to whoever presents programs of
Masonic education?  Do we applaud Officers and Brothers whom offer
particularly good lessons?  Do we actively participate in a civil way and
gently discourage those who would bring disharmony to the meeting?
Tonight's meeting will become our "yesterday" - let us insure it is an
instructive one for all present.
So my Brothers, embrace that clean tomorrow with the lessons of yesterday,
finding the proverbial silver lining in every cloud.  Masonic education &
philosophy should always be of the "glass half full" attitude.  Our
tomorrows will indeed be less stained by the superfluities of life.
Perhaps these sound like worn out catch phrases but truly consider the
truths they reveal.
Did you think the above was written by *Brother Marion R. Morrison?*
It was written by another Iowa-born Brother by his name in later life: John
Wayne.
Gerald Edgar 2011
Words to Live By: “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
The important thing is not to stop questioning.”---- Albert Einstein
*If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, please send them to*
shapiro.stanley@gmail.com
The Education Videos by our education committee can be viewed at:
http://www.youtube.com/glmned
The latest Masonic Monday Question, and some of the past questions, can be
viewed at www.Lodgebuilder.org  and at  www.mn-masons.org
Ed Halpaus 32° K.C.C.H., FPS
Grand Lodge Officer
Grand Lodge A.F. &  A.M. of MN
Executive Secretary - The Philalethes Society
763-552-0466 - Home
763-516-4435 - Cell
Skype i.d.- edhalpaus
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"I love to define mystery as not that which is unknowable, but that which
is endlessly knowable. So you never get to the point where I know it all.
And wouldn’t we assume that would be the nature of God? That God will
always by definition be mystery. More knowability, more knowability, deeper
experience, deeper surrender. So that’s the meaning of faith, and why faith
has such power, not just to transform people but to keep them on an ongoing
path of transformation and growth." Fr. Richard Rohr