VWB Brian B. Hardy Deputy of the Grand Master in District 4 of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Washington for 2007-2009 Mailto: Brian B. Hardy

No, this is not a message of doom and gloom, it’s quite the opposite, and just a cheap trick to get your attention.  However, this headline is an accurate assessment of where we are in the calendar and Masonic year for most Lodges.

As the end of another calendar year approaches, it reminds me that this is traditionally a time for reflection and changes, and also a time to celebrate a majority of holidays.  It’s a busy time.  In our profane lives, it’s a time when businesses review budgets and performance measurements, review how well they have done according to this year’s goals, adjust their resources and efforts, and then finalize goals for a new year based on expectations and past performance.  For students, who have now been back at school for awhile, enough time has passed to hopefully allow them to adjust their study habits to succeed under new teachers and subjects.  And on the home front, for many the planning for family activities around the holidays ahead is starting to gel.

In our Masonic lives, it’s also a time for reflection and change.  In our District, most of our lodges are in the midst of planning and preparing for an installation of officers for the next Masonic year.  Take a moment to reflect on what that can mean to all the members of a Lodge.  Changes in leadership can invoke all manner and ranges of emotional expression in us.  For those who are completing a year in the East, it can be one of possible relief, pride, accomplishment, regret for goals unaccomplished, and for some perhaps sadness for the loss of a station or control.  For the upcoming appointed officer it may include pride as well as fear or anxiety for taking on a role they are not yet comfortable with.  For the sideliners, it may be a change in comfort around yet unproven leadership or fear that there may be changes in familiar programs they have grown to count on.  Embrace these changes, and accentuate the positive.  With every end is a new beginning.

I would like to extend my congratulations to every officer who has or is about to complete serving his lodge in a particular capacity for his efforts.  I would also like to extend my congratulations to every officer who is about to begin serving in a new role.  The fact that you accepted a position and are/were willing to fill the duties of that role to the best of your ability is admirable, and deserves our praise.  When personally extended by you as well, these will be the wages most remembered by them, and will be valued most in convincing them to take the next steps when asked again.

I would also like to thank the Lodges in our District for all the courtesies afforded me and the position I hold.  In the first few months since Grand Lodge I have enjoyed visiting all of you in our Lodges and hope to continue seeing you and the new officers grow in a new year.

Here is a summary of upcoming installations in District Four:

Doric 92 -              Sat., Nov. 17 - 11:00 a.m., lunch after (tyled)

Greenwood 253 - Sat., Dec. 1 - 5:00 p.m., dinner after

Occidental 72 -    Fri., Dec. 7 - 7:30 p.m., buffet after

Green Lake 149 - Fri., Dec. 14 - 7:30 p.m., dinner before

Rainier 189 -        Sat., Dec. 15 - 10:00 a.m.

W. F. Meier 281 - Fri., Dec. 21 - 7:30 p.m., dinner before (tyled)

Lest I forget, congratulations to WM David Wakeman and his officers who were installed at Maritime Lodge No. 239 on Sept. 22nd.

There is one district-wide family social event to remind you of this month.  On Sunday, Nov. 25th, there will be another Bowl-a-rama at Sunset Lanes in Ballard starting at 1:00 p.m.  The lodges will provide food and lane fees.  Those interested should contact the District MLA officers or me to help plan for numbers.

Thanks to both the District Deputy of the Grand Master in District 4, and the Masonic Monitor which publishes his articles for allowing us to reprint them.  The Masonic Monitor is published monthly (except August) under approval of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Washington.  The Masonic Monitor can be contacted at: 6619 132nd Avenue NE, PMB 237, Kirkland, WA, 98033-8627, USA.  Phone: (425) 822-4605 - FAX: (425) 822-2535 - Email: masonicmonitor@earthlink.net.