Angels have been a part of my life as long as I can remember. I was aware of the real presence of my guardian angel as a child; I remember scooting way over to the side of my bunk bed to make room for her to lay down. I was a very busy child, and quite sure that my angel must be tired from protecting me all day long. I don’t remember when I stopped doing that, but the sense of angel proximity has persisted into my 75th year, coming in different forms at various times of my life, including face to face encounters at a convention in Chicago, a Jiffy Lube, and a Hallmark store.
Growing up, my family recited this well-loved bedtime prayer each night, a favorite in the Catholic faith tradition: Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this night be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide me, Amen.
I taught that prayer to my children, and they to their children, so it lives on in our family in a very sweet way. My youngest son, bewilderingly, injected a short rendition of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” each night before he finished the prayer with “Amen.” That one really threw me! Angelic influence can be quite inexplicable.
For many years I have collected angels as figurines, books, in pictures, as jewelry and I have quite a vintage collection of “holy cards” (rewards from the nuns at St. John’s Catholic School). I very much enjoy my collection as they each have “a story.” I’ve never really counted them all, but just sitting here in my chair in our living room there are over 50 figurines easily within sight, and I have oh-so-many-more throughout the house, in the yard, and in drawers and storage boxes to put out for all different seasons. I have a separate jewelry box for my angel pins, necklaces and earrings. Many pieces of my collection have been gifts from family and friends, although I will admit to not being able to resist buying for myself, too. The question “Do I need another angel?” never enters my mind… I mean, can you really have too many angels?!? And I love sharing them as gifts… so there!
And I always wear a piece of my angel jewelry, except when I’m in my pajamas. It feels like an important, tangible connection to Spirit, a reminder to be always aware and open to messages from God as inner wisdom. Angels are usually described as God’s messengers throughout the secular world and in many faith traditions. My acronym? (You knew there had to be one!) Always Near, God’s Emissary of Love. The word “angel” – malakha in Jesus’s language of Aramaic, malakh in Hebrew and angelos in Greek llierally means “messenger,” and there are many scriptural references to angels ministering to humans in a lot of different ways as ambassadors for God, revealing future events, bringing comfort, warnings and guidance. Angels are all over the place in Bible stories, mentioned around 300 times.
Unity movement co-founder Charles Fillmore defined angels as “the projection into consciousness of a spiritual idea direct from the Fountainhead, Jehovah” (The Revealing Word). An angel, he adds, is “the word of Truth, in which is centered the power of God to overcome all limited beliefs and conditions.”
Angels in the Bible then, metaphysically, are not beings, but representations of divine ideas. I’m here to testify that those divine ideas take human form!
One of my human-form angelic experiences happened in a Hallmark store while I was trying to find a suitable birthday card for one of my four sisters during a really tough time. I was going through a painful divorce, scared about how I’d take care of my 3 children, how I’d manage on my own. My then husband had left me for an older woman, and my self-esteem was flatter than a pancake. I felt quite sure that I would never experience joy, love, or romance ever again, and I’m pretty sure I hadn’t even really smiled in a while. The small store was almost empty, and I was looking through cards at a dead end aisle. I chose a card to read, and it was so funny and appropriate – the tacky kind of card we enjoyed giving each other as loving sisters – that I laughed out loud. Suddenly, a very nice older woman was just behind me, and she laid her hand on my shoulder and said, “you’ll have many more laughs in your life, a life filled with much love. ” I smiled at her and felt so peaceful, a real blessing at that time. And then, she just disappeared! There was no way she could have just walked away without me seeing her. I left the store with a much lighter heart, and the perfect birthday card. She was right -my life has since been full of laughter and love.
I have had other angel encounters just as wonderful – perhaps I’ll share more of them in later stories, but I’d like to introduce another kind of angel – the friends, family and other loved ones who show up in person in Divine Right Timing with just the right words, a little happy, an offer to go to lunch, or a card in the mail… a real honest-to-goodness hand written card! or a myriad of other “soul supports” to remind me of God’s goodness. These angels have been particularly meaningful during my beloved Doug’s cognitive decline, often coming at a point when I am feeling my lowest, my tiredest, my saddest, my heart full of hurt. They are indeed …in deed!…the divine embodiment of Always Near, God’s Emissaries of Love, my angel friends, my sisters, my kids and grandkids, my fellow prayer chaplains and others who minister at church.
I am so grateful for each sweet encounter, and hope that I have been an angel blessing to others in my life when they needed that God expression in human form, bringing the word of Truth, in which is centered the power of God to overcome all limited beliefs and conditions. I can truthfully affirm that angels abound. I have been touched by them.
Thanks for joining my in my journey this year! Blessings and gratitude.