The cable tow is one of those symbols that is always worth returning to. It's something that can be looked at in a variety of ways. In the past I wrote about Minding your Brother's Cable Tow, but we must remember to mind our own.
In Freemasonry the cable tow is a symbol of our own personal ability or the limits of what we can do without causing damage to ourselves and our loved ones. While there are many other possible meanings for the cable tow this is the one I’d like to focus on this time around.
In our day to day lives we take on any number of obligations, your son’s school play, your daughter’s soccer game, the dinner out next week with the parents, not to mention the deadlines and deliverables where you work.
And that’s before we even get to Freemasonry and all of the events, meetings, and projects, that go hand in hand with the organization.
I have often seen Brothers sitting there scrolling through page after page of their calendar (I’m just as guilty as the next) looking to see if they can fit in that next committee meeting. After seeing that there is a space on their calendar for that, the checking really starts, the spouse’s, the kid’s, the district’s, the Temple’s, the list goes on and on – why do we do this to ourselves? (Yes I know that having everyone use Google Calendar makes it easier but not everyone uses it.)
I heard the following disturbing comment more than once, “if you don’t have at least one Masonic conflict a week you’re doing something wrong.”
I’m not suggesting that you stop what you’re doing, cancel everything on your calendar, and unplug from the world. I’m suggesting that you set some boundaries and reset the length of your cable tow and prioritize what’s within it.
For as long as I can remember I’ve worked to follow the following priority list:
Family
Work
Religion
Freemasonry
I often give the above list to others when they start to talk about things going on and trying to figure out how to fit everything in. In this day and age most feel overwhelmed so the above list helps to prioritize things.
Your list might be different but I would suggest to you that you create one and work from it the next time you’re asked if you can be at that next meeting. For example, if I were asked to attend a study session next week I would run the following questions.
Does it conflict with anything at the school or on the wife’s calendar? No.
Do I have a deadline I need to meet at work? Yes.
Does it conflict with what’s going on at church? No.
At that point I would let the Brother know that I can’t be there due to work commitments. A true Brother will not only accept the answer but will likely empathize with it (almost everyone has had at least one deadline like that).
Our cable tow is supposed to help us gauge our limitations and guide us, it would be wise to heed it.
My priority list:
God
Family
Vocation
Masonic journey
I remember reading in one of your posts that your based in the US. Out of interest, are there a lot of Athiests, Agnostics or brothers of non-Abrahamic faith in the US Lodges you've attended?