Medallion

It was the summer after my graduation. I was a young one and still had a few months till my 18th birthday. I had worked fairly consistently and determinedly on my Personal Progress goals all through my Beehive, Mia Maid and Laurel years. The program was a little bit different then. You couldn't power through and earn your medallion when you were say, only 14-years old. There was a track you followed, a certain amount of goals per year you worked on. Your Laurel years were saved for the big projects. And by the time I hit this not-quite-18-summer-after-graduation time in my life...truth be told, I was a little burned out. Not by the Young Women program or Personal Progress, per se....just kind of anything to do with my young teenaged life. And yes, we have established the fact that I was only 17 at the time...still very much a teenager. But at the same time I was feeling very much an adult having graduated high school, working a summer job, and just a few weeks away from leaving for college. I was having a hard time convincing myself that finishing up those last few projects to earn my medallion was all that important. And when I left home and moved to Ephraim in late September, I had made the decision that I would be medallionless. And that was okay.

Except, as I made my way through that first year of college I saw a lot of girls wearing their medallions. Proudly. What it represented meant a lot to them, was something special. And I found myself feeling envious and decidedly sad. I wished I was wearing a medallion. Why had I not taken it more seriously? Why hadn't it meant more to me?

I went home that summer and talked to my old Young Women leaders and Bishop. They agreed that though I had already been in Relief Society for a year and had clearly missed the traditional deadline, they would give me the summer to finish up the projects I had started while still a Laurel. I worked hard with new determination, but also with a change of heart. My Bishop presented me with my medallion on my 19th birthday...a few weeks before I left for my second year of college.

Rebekah was presented with her medallion this past Sunday. It represents six years of hard work. Skills learned, services rendered, habits formed, and a testimony grown. It has helped shape the person she is today. I am so proud of her. And so glad that even near the end when she got busy and overwhelmed, she never let up. It was that important. It was that special.