Working without a Paycheck

It has become my running little piece of humor – when Brothers inquire about how my time as a Grand Lodge officer is going – to reply with, “The Grand Master is working me hard and he doesn’t pay worth a durn (“darn” for you Northerners).”

Recently, during a long and late-night ride back home from an official visit to a lodge, I got to thinking about my little one liner. I do work hard for Freemasonry and I imagine that many of the folks reading this do the same. We serve as officers; participate in the various events of our lodges; learn ritual; and spend hard-earned money on dues, donations, and memberships in research societies – all without a paycheck from the Fraternity that we work so hard for.

I work hard at my usual vocation and I enjoy it to a certain extent. But I am like most folks in that I go to work in order to sustain or improve a certain level of lifestyle for myself and my family. To put it bluntly – I work at my usual vocation in order to get a paycheck. But why do so many work so hard for Freemasonry without the benefit of a paycheck at the end of the month?

Love – It has to be all about love. We love the Fraternity and what it stands for. We love being involved in sustaining her and being involved with our Brothers. We love talking and learning about Freemasonry. We love teaching others what we have learned through Freemasonry. We even love being involved in helping to get Freemasonry back on the right path after we – as imperfect men – have caused her to drift away from the proper course. Something about all of this is ultimately satisfying and maybe it is there – in that satisfaction of being involved in what we love – that we can find the pay for our toils.

There is no paycheck…but there is pay and this gig pays well.