The Orange-Rockland District School of Instruction is currently in limbo because of a lack of requests to host it. If your Lodge would like to hold a SoI program on a ritual topic of your choosing, please contact the DDGM.

In the meanwhile, Jerusalem Temple Lodge will be hosting a monthly School at 9:00 a.m. on the third Saturdays and Stony Point-Wawayanda expects to start a School of their own shortly. Please contact these Lodges for more details.

We are sad to announce that Brother Nat (Nathan) Ronner of Athelstane Lodge has passed away in Mt. Pleasant, SC after a long struggle with Alzheimer's. Nat, as well as his sons Barry (a Past Master of Athelstane) and Joel will be remembered as a close family fiercely proud of their Masonic and DeMolay relationships. The family has requested a Masonic Funeral which will be in Brooklyn on Wednesday. For more information, please contact R:.W:. Ron Steiner.

We also regret to announce the passing of Wor. Bob Phillips. He will be reposed at the George M. Holt Funeral Home, 50 New Main Street, Haverstraw, NY. The viewing will be held on Thursday, January 3rd from 2:00 to 4:00 pm and 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The Eastern Star will have a service for him at 7:30 p.m. followed by a Masonic service by Stony Point-Wawayanda Lodge members at 8:00 pm. All who can attend are encouraged to be there for the Masonic service. The phone number for the funeral home is 845-429-2159. The Funeral is at 10:00 am Friday for all that wish to attend. The funeral will be at Mount Repo Cemetery. His family would like donations to the charity of your choice in his honor in lieu of flowers.

Principle-Centered Resolutions for the New Millennium
John C. Maxwell

Mark your calendar. When it comes time to make your New Year's resolutions you'll want to have this lesson handy. Read it now to get your thinking on the right track. And use it again as a guide when you're ready to write down some new commitments for the new year. It will help you base your new goals on the proven principles of lasting leadership and not unrealistic expectations. . .

If history repeats itself, then less than half of those who make New Year's resolutions for the upcoming year will actually stick with them. If you look at your own history, what half will you be in this year?

Making and keeping new commitments each year really comes down to a matter of principle. You must set your goals based on what you value. In other words, the same principles that govern your daily decisions must govern how you make your resolutions. And if you make resolutions that aren't supported by a principle you adhere to in your life, you'll find it hard to stick to the commitment.

Before you set any new goals for the year, take some time to make sure that the principles that govern your decisions are the right ones.

To be an effective leader, you must always resolve to. . .

1. EMBRACE INTEGRITY.

A few years ago, a retail firm in St. Louis was forced to lay off almost 20 percent of its employees. The personnel manager was asked what criteria he used to make the cuts.

He said, "We looked closely at attendance, productivity, personality, and the measurable signs of success or failure, but our real goal was to retain workers who were of the highest moral character. We can never replace honesty and integrity."

To make sure integrity is a priority in your life, make a resolution to find an accountability partner. Allow that person to hold you accountable by giving him or her permission to ask you at any time about your integrity in your relationships, your work, and your commitments.

2. BE COMMITTED TO EXCELLENCE.

To consistently achieve excellence in every endeavor you must make it your goal to always be and do the very best you can, with or without an audience, in small tasks and in large tasks.

Share the attitude of Michelangelo, who while painting in some dark corner of the Sistine Chapel ceiling was asked by his helper why he was investing so much time and effort in a part of the painting that no one would ever see. With conviction he replied, "God will see!"

Howard Newton said: "People will forget how fast you did a job -- but they remember how well you did it." The ability to perform again and again at a high standard often takes time and doesn't necessarily come easy. Determine to never disappoint people or yourself with your work. Make a resolution to take an extra minute before you consider any task completed to ask yourself if it's the very best you could do. If it's not, take the time to make it right. That's the essence of being committed to excellence.

3. SEIZE GOOD OPPORTUNITIES.

I once heard a story about a tourist who sat down for a rest on park bench. Looking over to an old man also sitting on the bench, the tourist asked, "Friend, can you tell me something this town is noted for?"

"Well," the old man replied, "I don't rightly know except that it's the starting point to the world. You can start here and go anywhere you want."

That man understood the concept of the words of B. C. Forbes: "Mediocre people wait for opportunities to come to them. Strong, able, alert people go after opportunity."

No opportunity is ever lost. If you fumble it, someone else will find it. This year, make a resolution to seize opportunities by writing them down the moment they arise and scheduling a time to pursue them. By recording opportunities right away, you will not only avoid forgetting about them, you will create a habit of acting on them when they are still ripe on the vine.

4. NEVER STOP IMPROVING.

Self-improvement is the only way to remain a leader in your field. In their book, Leaders, Warren Bennis and Bert Nanus write, "It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from their followers."

Your greatest challenge as a leader is not gaining on others but rather continually growing yourself. It's one thing to have been effective this year but another to remain effective in the years to come. Bobb Biehl said, "Standards of excellence are not chiseled in stone. They are constantly being redefined. It is important to recognize that what was graded excellent last year may not be so this year. That is why we must keep mastering new skills."

Make a resolution this year to implement a strategic plan for personal growth. I recommend that you begin by committing to listen to a cassette each week and reading a book each month on topics that will add value to your ventures.

... and resolve to NOT do these things:

1. DON'T PURSUE IMMEDIATE PLEASURE OVER PERSONAL GROWTH.

There's an old Irish proverb that says, "You've got to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather is." Pursue growth to become the best you can, not to acquire things. Growth brings good things, but good things don't bring growth. And growth, not pleasure, is the only guarantee of a successful future.

The fact is that the secret to a successful future is hidden in your daily routine. Make sure that you don't fall into the thinking that you will be successful if you achieve certain financial goals, or live in a certain house, or drive a certain car. Success is knowing your purpose in life, growing to your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others. As Troy Aikman, Pro Bowl quarterback of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys said, "Success is not so much what we have as it is what we are."

2. DON'T ASPIRE FOR ACCEPTANCE OVER EXCELLENCE.

When I was the senior pastor at Skyline, a large church in San Diego, California, I lead the church as best as I knew how and we saw tremendous growth. However, there came a point when I knew that the time I spent traveling around the country to speak was beginning to take time away from my investment in the church. I realized that although I was doing MY best, I wasn't giving the church THE best they could have. When I resigned, some people didn't understand that. And if I had been seeking acceptance I may not have moved on. But I understood that the best for both the church and myself was for me to leave.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "For everything you gain, you lose something." In other words, there may be times when your ideas or actions aren't accepted by everyone, even though they're right. But to be effective at what you do, you must be willing to pursue excellence over the acceptance of others. Make sure your new goals aren't grounded in a desire to please others.

3. DON'T SEEK SECURITY INSTEAD OF SIGNIFICANCE.

The great men and women of history were not great because of what they owned or earned. Many of them had nothing of material value. But none-the-less, they were great for who they were and for what they gave their lives to accomplish.

Tom Brokaw noted, "It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference." And he's right. Sometimes it becomes necessary to sacrifice the security of a job or money to make a significant difference in the lives of those you lead. Always set goals that make significance their target.

4. DON'T SACRIFICE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR QUANTITY OF LIFE.

Albert Scweitzer said, "The great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up."

I recently read a story about the president of a large company seeking the advice of a world-renowned professor. After unloading all his worries on the professor without much response, he decided to be quiet for a moment. The professor then began to pour water from a pitcher into a crystal glass until it began to overflow onto the table. Bewildered, the president of the company asked what he was doing. The wise professor replied: "Your life is like the glass, flowing over. There's no room for anything new. You don't need to take more in, you need to pour more out."

Be careful that you don't get too busy that you neglect doing the things that matter most. Author, Bob Buford, said it this way: "Unless a person takes charge of both work and free time, they will either be disappointed or disappear." Set a goal to evaluate your time and priority management on a regular basis.

Make it your first resolution in the new year to be a principle-centered leader at work, at church, and at home. Continually use this list as a guide to help you define your new goals. You'll find that when you embrace the right principles for your life, you'll be effective at sticking with your commitments.