23/07/2026
Broken promises.
We lost the joy that we once knew.
Where do we go from here?
From something old to something new?
Last night I found myself listening to one of my favorite bands from years gone by, Rez Band. I've been a fan since 1984, when Live Bootleg was released. One song in particular caught my attention again: "Broken Promises."
It isn't a song of triumph. It's a song of lament.
Maybe the singer was experiencing what St. John of the Cross called a Dark Night of the Soul. Maybe he wandered in the desert longer than he ever intended. Or maybe he was simply being honest about what it means to be human.
Whatever the reason, he sings about failure, regret, disappointment, and the longing to find his way back.
Lament is not foreign to Scripture. Nearly a third of the Psalms are songs of sorrow, repentance, confusion, and longing. They remind us that faith isn't pretending everything is fine. Sometimes faith is simply crying out while refusing to stop walking.
I think Masonry has its own version of that journey.
Many of us join the Craft full of excitement and expectation. The symbols are fascinating, the lessons profound, and the possibilities seem endless. Then life happens. We become distracted. We fall short of our own expectations. Sometimes the fraternity doesn't live up to the picture we imagined. Sometimes we don't live up to the promises we made ourselves.
Masonry is both the easiest and the hardest thing you'll ever do.
It's easy if all you ever do is attend a meeting occasionally. It's much harder if you allow its lessons to become a mirror. Masonry has a way of revealing parts of ourselves we may not be ready to see. Sometimes what we discover is inspiring. Sometimes it's uncomfortable.
Human beings have an incredible ability to place others on pedestals. We see it in politics, religion, business, sports, and yes—even in our Gentle Craft. We convince ourselves that certain people are somehow above the rest, wiser, more important, or more deserving than the Brother sitting quietly beside us.
But the truth is simpler.
Every one of us is carrying victories, failures, doubts, and regrets that most people never see.
There is a beautiful poem, On Yonder Book, attributed to Most Worshipful Brother Benjamin Levi Hadley, that speaks of our Masonic obligations. If you've ever heard it recited well, you know how powerful it can be. It calls us to remain true to the obligations we have taken and never violate them.
But what happens when we fail?
That is a question worth asking.
Not because our obligations are unimportant—they are sacred—but because every Mason is still a man. We all stumble. We all have moments we wish we could take back. We all discover that living our obligations is more difficult than repeating them.
The last time I walked on water...it was frozen.
We take obligations throughout our lives—as husbands, fathers, sons, friends, employees, citizens, and Masons. Woe to those who treat those promises lightly.
But woe also to the man who forgets his own humanity and spends the rest of his life punishing himself for every failure.
Grace and accountability are not enemies.
Perhaps someone disappoints us. Perhaps a Brother falls short. Perhaps we feel betrayed by another person's weakness.
What do we do then?
Do we rush to judgment?
Do we delight in pointing out their failures?
Or do we remember our own?
Do we remember the promises we struggled to keep...the times we had to swallow our pride...the seasons when we barely recognized the man looking back at us in the mirror?
Every one of us has a laundry list.
Masonry is not a feeling. It is not an emotion.
It is a way of seeing the world.
It is a commitment to becoming a better man so we might leave the world a little better than we found it. That journey always begins with the man in the mirror.
So if you've lost the excitement, you felt when you first became a Mason...
If you believe you've fallen short of your obligations...
If you find yourself walking through a Dark Night of the Soul...
Keep walking East.
The lessons you're learning today may become the wisdom you need tomorrow.
I have faith in you.
Life has often been compared to a race.
I think it's a marathon.
No one is disqualified because they stumble. No one loses because they fall.
The only way to lose is to quit.
So don't quit.
Keep your eyes toward the East.
Keep your obligations close to your heart.
And keep walking.
I love you and may we govern ourselves accordingly
