Puffy Eyes

Oh, I didn't lie. The graduation service last night wrecked me. It was...it was...there aren't words. Wow.

But something about it disturbed me.

Last year, I made 'Mantles' for the third year graduates. Last year, there were 6 members of the third year class; this year, there were 16. I asked Pastor Angie back in March if they were going to do the mantles again this year; if they were, we needed to get on it (I planned to call in the Sewing Ladies for help). She said they had some things they were looking at online and she'd get back to me. Well, a few weeks later she said they'd found some for $8 each and decided to purchase them. To be honest, I was a bit relieved not to worry about it.

But last night, as I watched the mantle-passing, it just felt...wrong. Last year, I'd made them specifically for each student, with their names in them, praying blessings and guidance for them as I made them. This year, I realized that those mantles were created anonymously; no one knows who made them, and the folks who made them had no idea where they were going. The mantles should be a blessing...made with blessing and given with blessing.

So after the service I found Pastor Angie and told her I would make them from now on.

I'm planning to start on them as soon as we know who will be in the third year class; we can hand them over early and the folks who will be praying over them can have those mantles as prayer reminders in the weeks and perhaps even months leading up to the commissioning service.

That way the mantles will not just be a disconnected symbol, but a real evidence of blessing.