A wedding is a Commencement, a beginning of something new. Children offer us a multitude of Commencements, of new beginnings. Their births, when they head off to school, when they finish school and go off on their own, the unnumbered crises in the process of raising them, are all like Commencements. Some have a victorious Commencement in the hospital instead of school. The cancer is gone.
Life is filled with transitions.
I want to suggest three indispensable gifts that are appropriate for any of life's Commencements. They are great gifts to receive. They are great gifts to give. In fact, if you don't own these things yourself, stop at Wal-Mart on the way home from church today and buy them. Everyone needs these three things.