May invigorates. Its fresh rains and blooming flowers make us feel better about life's possibilities and ourselves. Masonry, too, is experiencing a spring of sorts. More than ever before, the Brethren are dedicated to new programs and achieving new goals. Masonry's "winter" of little action and less growth is over. Some Brethren have felt comfortable in the quiet and calm of doing little. Sleep, personal or organizational, is comforting. Roots dormant in the ground must feel the same way. Spring is uncomfortable for them. Suddenly, they are called on to wake up and grow. May is here, and, in addition to stirring those buried roots, spring is stirring the Fraternity.

We are realizing that change is necessary if we are to experience growth again. This is not change in the true fundamentals of Masonry and the Scottish Rite—a pear tree does not change into an orange tree when it breaks the winter dormancy and begins to grow again. Rather, these are changes in fraternal thinking and action. More and more, the various branches of the Fraternity are beginning to ask such questions as:

	What do our members really want? What needs do they have, and how can our Fraternity help to meet those needs?
	How can we strengthen the true spirit of fraternalism and teach the great lesson of morals, ethics, and self-awareness which are our reason for being?

I am proud the Scottish Rite has been among the leaders in this process. In the last two sets of Leadership Conferences offered by the Supreme Council, we have invited Scottish Rite Fellows—young 32° Scottish Rite Masons—to attend, participate in seminars, and help us to understand the Mason of today and tomorrow. And we have listened to what they had to say.

Also, we have a new membership team at the House of the Temple. It is headed by Ill. S. Brent Morris, 33°, Grand Cross, as Director of Membership Development. (See his article in this issue.) While the goal of Ill. Morris and his "Focus Group" is increased membership and membership retention, we know that we can only gain membership and membership involvement by increased relevancy in the world of today. We also know that we must never lose sight of our traditional strengths while gaining that relevancy. The Scottish Rite has been called the "University of Freemasonry" with good reason, and we must strengthen that role. We know that we need increased elements of fellowship and fraternalism. We know that there is a need, in the words of one ritual, "for good men to have a congregation, that they may strengthen each other in their mutual resolve to do good and be of benefit to the world." And we know that men have a need for quality time spent with men, just as women have a need for quality time spent with women.

We have provided all those things and more in the past, and we can provide them again. But in the long and comfortable dormancy of winter, it has been easy to slumber, to pull back, and to rest. Now, metaphorically, the spring rains are soaking the earth. If a plant does not break its dormancy when rains come—sending out new roots, tapping new reserves of strength and nourishment, and converting those resources into new growth—the plant dies. In some ways, those spring rains are cruel, for they take us out of our comfort. But Masons have always asked for growth rather than comfort, and for opportunity rather than ease. And so, together, we enter the world of the third millennium.

Winter kept us warm, but it is time to rejoice and grow in the spring rain.