The Chronology of Masonic Degrees

The Second Edition of The Chronology of Masonic Degrees is out! And cheaper than the first ($20)!

Get it here: http://www.lulu.com/content/6279694

A request for Hope Lodge

A message forwarded by the Grand Master.

As you know American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in Iowa City will be here forever providing a home for cancer patients. I'm sure you or your lodge have donated to Hope Lodge in the past and are continuing to do so. It is the hope of ACS (and mine) for a quillow to go home with each patient. Denny and I delivered quillows a couple weeks ago and a patient was getting ready to go home. He was hugging his quillow and couldn't believe a stranger made and gave him a quillow to take with him. If you ever get a chance please visit Hope Lodge and see what your donations have done.
Last fall, a SOS was sent to many Masons asking for quillows. As of today, many have been sewed and delivered to Hope Lodge. They still need more since ACS predicts 400 patients a year using Hope Lodge as their home away from home during their cancer treatments.

HAVE I GOT A DEAL FOR YOU (YOUR LODGE).

I'm looking for a stimulus check. HA! $20.00 would buy fabric and batting to make one quillow. If your lodge (or organization) could contribute charity money for quillows, I would be the sale-seeking shopper for those supplies. There is a woman in central Iowa that wants to make them. All I have to do is give the supplies to her.
I would be indebted to you forever if you would present this request to your lodge (plus the lodges you visit). If you wish to be a part of this great endeavor, have checks made and mailed to Janet Zahrt, 2920 Maplecrest Road, Bettendorf, IA 52722. I will keep you informed of what your stimulus check purchased.
Hugs and Kisses,

Janet Zahrt

I had to share

I found this over on the Illustrious Order of the The Three Ruffians. Please listen.

Thanks to Howie Damron for supporting Freemasonry through song. If you would like to get ahold of Howie or just tell him that you like his stuff then email him...

Email: cdamron1@aol.com

The Adventures of Charlotte/ Quote for Today

A stereotype is like a piece of clothing you can't take off.

Charlotte - The Bard of Dakar

I have written about Charlotte before. She is a former Edwards student and probably the most gifted writer I have ever had the pleasure to teach. No probably about it. She is!

She is studying in Dakar and is writing a blog about her journey/adventures. In the post for today she writes about racism and what it is like for her as a white person in this country and her reaction. She also touches on French colonialism and the way families relate to one another. Charlotte is a wise woman even though she is still young in chronological age.

I recommend that you visit the Bard by clicking here.

I just found her boyfriend's blog in which he writes about her. Sounds like a soulmate to me.

And to read one of her stories (for which she won first prize) click here.

There now, I have done my duty for today. The eclectic world continues. Enjoy. jcs

Sunday Note

If I had done anything today I could tell you about it. But all I did was write two sets of minutes, finish my Scottish Rite Master Craftsman tests (that makes all 6 of them) and visit with friends on the computer and my nephew in person. Jon took Bailey and Max for a walk tonight. I printed some things for Lodge and basically had a relaxing Sunday. I even took a nap.

I am reading a good book and I worked on that a little and also read another book. Oh yes I also read my blogs and I am wondering if the computer has become a "time thief" for me. Perhaps I need to limit my time on the computer. Then I could read more and watch more TV. (Ha that remark was for Don). So if you are here I want to thank you for dropping by. Have a great week. I am off to bed soon. Always Remember That You Are Loved. Hugs jcs

Sunday Wisdom

From One Mountain, Many Paths
An American Freemason Speaks Out for Peace

by Dr. Patrick Swift
Click book or here to go to the page and buy it for yourself,

This week we find:

It is written: "From all your sins before the Lord shall ye be clean." This is our tradition. The sin towards God, the Day of Atonement atones for; but sins toward man, the Day of Atonement cannot atone for till the neighbor has been appeased.

The Babylonian Talmud, Yomah
Judaism

When you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go, first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

Matthew 3:23-24
Christianity

Can we have Atonement (At-one-ment) with God and be at odds with our fellows? And what if our brother or sister will not be reconciled with us? I know that I have said or done things that are not my highest nature. I have regretted things I have said or done that have hurt others. Sometimes I have apologized and other times I have just felt guilty - either way I regret the way I behaved. There have been people who behaved very badly towards me. I have felt rejection all my life. Real or imagined on my part it still hurts.

I have accepted apologies and gone on from there but I have always said (to myself) that a real apology is changed action. I seldom give individuals a second chance to hurt me. One time I did and the hurt is such that it is still there. I probably will never be really reconciled with those individuals. Does that mean that I can never be reconciled with God? I DON"T THINK SO. I don't think it is in God's design for any of His children to be separated from him. AT ONE MENT. It is a wonderful concept and I can feel it in various ways.

All of this has reminded me of the Rev. Joseph Fort Newton's answer to the question:

When is a Man a Mason?

By Rev. Joseph Fort Newton

When he can look out over the rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a profound sense of his own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope, and courage-which is the root of every virtue.

When he knows that down in his heart every man is as noble, as vile, as divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive, and to love his fellowman.

When he knows how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yea, even in their sins-knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds.

When he has learned how to make friends and to keep them, and above all how to keep friends with himself.

When he loves flowers, can hunt birds without a gun, and feels the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he hears the laugh of a little child.

When he can be happy and high-minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life.

When star-crowned trees and the glint of sunlight on flowing waters subdue him like the thought of one much loved and long dead.

When no voice of distress reaches his ears i vain, and no hand seeks his aid without response.

When he finds good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of divine things and sees majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of that faith may be.

When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and into the face of the most forlorn fellow mortal and see something beyond sin.

When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope.

When he has kept faith with himself, with his fellowman, and with his God; in his hands a sword for evil, in his heart a bit of a song-glad to live, but not afraid to die!

Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which it is trying to give to all the world.

The bold is mine. I think it all helps answer my question.

This is the season of Lent. A lot of people are giving up things. Some give up chocolate (perish the thought) and others give up something else. I have never been from a tradition that "gives up" something to prove my faith. I guess that giving up something material is not the route I want to go. So to that end I am going to try (try I say because I probably won't get it accomplished) to give up the grudges I hold because someone has hurt me or "cast me out" of their life or has said something to me that cut me. I am not going to go to them or try to get them to reconcile (been there, done that) I am just going to try to think of them the way God thinks of all of us - with Love. It is probably a little late to start thinking about it because Lent started last Wednesday. But then I have always been a little behind and I would not have even thought of it if it weren't for a conversation at lunch yesterday.

Have a blessed peaceful week and remember to Love. Hugs, j