Copied from an email that I had received:

Each of us at one time or another have stepped into Hiram’s shoes and made a journey like those that have gone before us. We learned that every day at high twelve our Grand Master would go to the Sanctum Sanctorum and offer up his adorations to deity and lay his designs upon the trestle board. We are all versed in the literal interpretation of this scene as we have played it out countless times. If we were to delve deeper into the penitence of a humble soul seeking the wisdom and tools to help shape his moral, physical, and spiritual edifice we find one of the preeminent lessons of our Fraternity. We learn the lesson of "choice." We have the choice to knock on Freemasonry’s door; to advance to the altar of Masonry; to step into Hiram’s shoes and pray. If we were to follow the example of that individual, perhaps we would pray for the wisdom and strength to apply the symbolic uses of architectural tools to our spiritual lives in the hopes of shaping our hearts, minds and bodies into what might be pleasing to the Grand Architect of the Universe on the day of our judgment.

It is that particular "choice" that differentiates us from so many others. We often hear the phrase "We take good men and make them better." Perhaps it is not the fraternity that "makes" them better, but rather it provides the setting for an individual to make the choice to better himself. Again we find the usage and application of "choice." At the altar of Masonry, we make a declaration of choice to strive to demonstrate honor and integrity in all that we do; to love and treat our Brothers with respect, and to help our fellow Brothers get back onto the correct path if they stray too far.

For some of us, the individual experience of making some of those choices is sufficient to last a lifetime and is one that we fondly keep in our hearts throughout all of our days. For others it is by the shared participation in providing the setting to be a witness to others making these choices where we find the true source of our Masonic wages.
It all begins with a choice.

Sincerely & Fraternally,
J. Brian McNaughton