The Graduation Dinner

I went to a really good dinner the other day.
No the food wasn't all that special, but there was plenty of it, but it wasn't the food that made the dinner really good. As you may have guessed it was a graduation ceremony, but it wasn't a typical graduation. There were no diplomas (not that most graduation ceremonies actually use real diplomas any more), but there weren't even fancy card board sleeves that could one day truly hold diplomas. This was not a graduation from a college or any other school, and yet I knew, these graduates had learned things that might just help them for the rest of their lives.

I can't really say that I know exactly what happened at the graduation -I was a few minutes late - but the parts that I did see held my attention very tightly. Ok I confess I like a good graduation. My graduation from college was really cool. I heard some of the most interesting talks that I've ever heard that day. I really can't understand why people would purposely miss the opportunity to hear counsel and advice from some of the greatest minds available. But celebration didn't even have some uber-wise person to give me as many secrets as they could, in under an hour.

Nope, it was just people, ordinary people. Ordinary people that I just happen to respect a lot. There were sixteen of them. Sixteen graduates, and their friends and their families. And when I got there, somebody was singing. They sang really well. I tried to be inconspicous. I was there for A/V support (I'm supposed to know about that stuff).
I set down my stuff, and went back to my car (I had a lot of stuff).

As I got back the group was lining up to eat. The host graciously added me to the front of the line, and we ate. Like I said, the food wasn't spectacular, it was a sort of pot luck, but I'm pretty sure that most of it came from this or that local business. Also I didn't really take time to savor what I did have, because I still had to set everything up. And so we ate, then again there were more musical numbers. Again, they were nice. Then came my part. I have to admit, I was nervous. A/V things have a tendency to go wrong, and I hadn't had time to test everything at my office (after all, most of my equipment was at the graduation). And so I started the presentation. I made a really good presentation. 250 photos, 4 really good songs, and sixteen minutes of memories for the sixteen people who had made it to graduation. I didn't take the photos, and I hadn't picked the music, but somehow, everything came together to make a powerful presentation, and I was the instrument that brought it all together. And it came together well.

After that I just sat back and enjoyed. But still, I didn't know what to expect, and what followed was not as I expected. More people got up to sing, once again, they sang very well. That was not unexpected, but when they finished, I heard a strange request: “Ok now give your book report.” I assumed the 'student' had missed the previous group meeting or something. Her book was passed up to her, and she talked about it. It was non-fiction; A book full of good advice. The book was appropriate, because this was a group designed to heal, and to help people. One by one they all got up. One by one, they told us about a book that had helped them. For a few of them it was just a book report, but for some of them, you knew, something had changed their lives. Some of them wrote poems, some of them wrote fortune cookies. But everyone had something to say, and one thing that everyone said was thank you. Somehow this group had changed their lives. Some changed more than others, and some would likely be back, but some of these people were truly being healed, at least in some degree. Three months together in a group therapy course, and the course was therapeutic.

I don't believe people should need therapy, but I do believe people do need it. I wouldn't dare try most the drugs prescibed for these things, but I wouldn't hesitate to get a little help. I really do believe that gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest cure for any problem that a person could have. It is a great preventative, and a perfect cure, but sometimes we need a little extra help. Sometimes a professional can point us in the direction we ought to be going.

I still don't know why many of them were there. Ultimately, I don't care. It's sad that these things often have a stigma, because they really can be helpful. Why don't we applaud these people. For one reason or another they know that something isn't working, but instead of letting it fail, they fix it. We were never told that we were supposed to fix everything ourselves. In fact, from the beginnig, we were told not to. When Adam was first placed here on the earth, he was given someone to help him. When Moses could no longer hold up his arms, he was given two helpers. Often those who get help, get a synergistic effect; the sum of the parts is greater than their individual total. The sum of these people was Great.