The Working Tools Magazine “Light” Version - Hawthorne-Fortitude ...

“The Twenty-Four Inch Gauge, a Measure of a Lifetime”
By Bro. David Browning
I am currently the Senior Deacon in the Lodge as well as
the 16th District Deputy Grand Lecturer. At the beginning
of the year I fully felt that I was giving Masonry
everything that was expected of me and more. After I
changed jobs my responsibilities at work became very
demanding and I really had to slack off from visitation,
service to the district, and on several occasions have even
had to miss our Stated Communications due to travel
required for my new position. In addition, life events such
as my daughter getting married, the loss of a dear loved
one, and other family matters also put a strain on my
ability to give back to the Fraternity. I dare ask the
question, does this lack of balance makes me less of a
Mason? I will attempt to answer this question in the
paragraphs below.
In the First Degree we are taught that “The working tools
of an Entered Apprentice are the twenty-four inch gauge
and the common gavel.” When they are presented to us
we ponder their use and most likely think little else about it
for quite some time. Upon joining the Fraternity I was
really blessed to have a very good work-life balance that
allowed me to devote a lot of time to the Lodge and
District events and never had any doubts that I was to
some extent within the bounds of equilibrium that the
twenty-four-inch gauge is meant to teach us; however, that
situation changed and I have really been torn about my
lack of ability to serve the Fraternity these last several
months. As I often think about various topics and write
about them this one is particularly personal to me and I
would like to share my thoughts about the lesson I believe
we are being taught when really reflecting
upon the twenty-four inch gauge of the
Entered Apprentice Degree.
We are taught that “The twenty-four inch
gauge is an instrument made use of by
Operative Masons to measure and lay out
their work, but we as Free and Accepted
Masons are taught to make use of it for the
more noble and glorious purposes of
dividing our time. It being divided into
twenty-four equal parts are emblematic of
the twenty-four hours of the day which we are taught to
divide into three equal parts, whereby are found eight
hours to the service of God and a distressed worthy
brother, eight for our usual avocations, and eight for
refreshment and sleep.” I think that we would all be
challenged to find very many who have this good of a
balance at any particular point in life
but I think that this is truly the lesson.
The twenty-four inch gauge is the
measure of our balance throughout a
lifetime, not at any given point in time.
When I first was Entered, Passed, and
Raised I had a routine job that allowed
me a lot of flexibility. At that time I was able to spend a
lot of time learning the catechisms as well as the lectures
of the three symbolic degrees. I did a lot of visitation,
helped with work in the Lodge, and never missed a
meeting unless there were extenuating circumstances. At
this time I also would say that I was more than ready to
help out a worthy Brother, spend time studying the Great
Light of Masonry, and overall had what I would consider
to be a good balance. At this time I never doubted my
veracity to the Fraternity but fast forward to March of this
year when I landed my new job and everything got turned
upside down. So back to the original question, does this
lack of balance make me less of a Mason? I believe the
answer is no, as the balance will be maintained throughout
a lifetime. I believe that at any given point in time we will
spend disproportionate amounts of time in one of the areas
we are taught to focus on while neglecting the others but
over the course of our lifetime that this will equal out to a
large degree and thankfully we have the Blessings of Deity
to overcome our discrepancies and shortcomings.
T W T
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