There are times in life when a theme chases you, and you find you need to write about it.
Such is the case today.
Angels.
They keep reappearing.
There’s the neighborhood rooster I wrote about on Sunday, and the ancient Muslim belief that a rooster crows because it has seen an angel.
There’s the memoir Angela’s Ashes that I returned to for my St. Patrick’s Day post, wherein author Frank McCourt’s mother keeps having babies and his father says an angel brings them, specifically the Angel of the Seventh Step, where he claims to have found Frank’s newest baby brother. Young Frank starts looking for the angel. When he wakes in the night, he goes to check the seventh step: Sometimes I’m sure there’s a light there and if everyone’s asleep I sit on the step in case the angel might be bringing another baby or just coming for visit…I’m sure the angel is there and I tell him all the things you can’t tell your mother or father for fear of being hit on the head or told to go out and play.…
There’s my husband’s sermon series over the last months, in which he mentioned times of trial, temptation, suffering, and the appearance of ministering angels, with this repeated exhortation that I scribbled down on two different Sunday order-of-worship bulletins: Look for the angels.
There’s his sermon this past Sunday, which referenced the greedy soothsayer, Balaam, and his donkey which refused, three times, to not travel down the road where the increasingly irate Balaam was trying to direct it, because the donkey could see the angel of the Lord there with a drawn sword when Balaam could not; and haven’t we all experienced, in some way or other, animals seeing what we can’t? (Remember the rooster…).
There’s another book I pulled off my shelf this week, The Art of Comforting, in which author Val Walker tells of being diagnosed with premature ovarian failure; she will never have the child she’s longed for. Shortly afterward she’s laid off from her job in a massive downsizing. As her husband goes away on a business trip, she cries for the loss of the life she thought she’d been destined to live: “My angel books and angel music could no longer comfort me. I prayed to God to send me a real angel. I was ready for a bona fide spiritual visit from heaven.” To her shock, the doorbell rings…chiding herself for thinking it could really be an angel, she answers it to find a “small, sweaty man in a filthy T-shirt and muddy shoes. He must have been one of the laborers working on my neighbor’s lawn…” and with him is a golden retriever, staring at her, wagging its tail.
Turns out the man has come to ask, in broken English, if this is her dog (it’s not). He then asks for water for the animal; it’s a terribly hot day. Walker gives a bowl of water to the dog. She offers a glass to the man. The visitors leave together, and she reflects: Just ten minutes earlier, desperate enough to go begging to God, I had prayed for a brilliant, glowing angel to come to me…was this stranger my angel? I don’t know. But I do know that in witnessing his beautiful kindness toward that dog I was reassured that comforting still existed on earth…always remember, comfort is all around us. We are never alone.
I’m not sure the man was the angel, either.
I’m pretty sure the dog was.
Then there are experiences much closer to home, some of which I shared in yesterday’s post with my “Bad things are going to happen” poem.
There was my husband’s diagnosis of ocular melanoma…shortly after which, while driving and contemplating having his eye removed, he stopped at a traffic light and saw, he says, the brightest flash of white light before him. Nothing was there to cause such a flash. He’d never experienced anything like it before. Optical illusion? Maybe. Stress? Possibly. But he said he was instantly flooded with comfort and knew everything would be okay.
And it was.
Then there was his cardiac arrest on a Sunday afternoon, driving home from the gym. He lost control of his truck; it veered into coming traffic, then crossed back over and ran off the road into a grove of trees…without striking anything. The last thing he remembers, as all went dark and peaceful, are voices saying He’s in trouble. We have to get him off the road.
Angels?
You decide.
As for me, I realize the words were written on my heart long before I scribbled them in the Sunday bulletins. I know, whatever the days may bring, or how long the darkest night may seem, in times of my greatest need, I’ll heed my preacher’s advice:
Look for the angels.
They’re all around us.
“backlit Golden Retriever“. theilr. CC BY-SA 2.0.
*******
Composed for Day 26 of the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers
Works cited:
McCourt, Frank. Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir. New York, Scribner, 1996. (Pages 102-107)
Walker, Val. The Art of Comforting: What to Say and Do for People in Distress. New York, Penguin, 2010. (Pages 241-244)
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lit bits and pieces 
Dear Fran – I love this post. You and your husband have gone through so much. I am glad you are surrounded by angels. I too believe in angels. I know they are around me when I need them most. Once in a taxi in NYC, I was feeling very low and out of sorts, the taxi driver started a conversation with me about God and asked if I believed. I said I did. When I got out of the taxi, the African American driver turned around and looked at me. He had the most sparkling blue eyes I had every seen. And he said to me, “Don’t you worry. I can see that there are angels all around you. Bless you.” From that day on, when I get worried, I remember that taxi driver and it eases my worries.
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Joanne, this reminds me of Marlo Thomas’ books The Right Words at the Right Time. Yours is one of those stories. I think that would make a wonderful blogging theme for a day – what are all of our right words that happened a the right time?
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Thank you for this response, Joanne – and what an amazing story! I can see it unfolding so clearly in my mind – especially the bright blue of the man’s eyes. At friend of mine told me once that we get the grace we need right when we need it. My thought is – and then we always have it, to carry us forward.
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Wow…there is definitely something going on. There’s too many signs for it to be simply coincidence. I’m glad that the angels were there to protect your husband. That must have been really scary for you. I hope that he’s doing okay now. Hang in there, friend.
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He’s doing well, Jennifer, and thank you for these thoughts. He has mostly adjusted to life with one eye, with some occasional frustrations, naturally, and his heart reports after two surgeries are good. He’s overcoming a spinal fusion now. He’s endured a lot…yet his spirits remain high and he continues his ministry. I am grateful for every day, and for all the help that has been given us – it has always come when we needed it most.
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I love the idea that there might be angels–something bigger & protective–watching and providing safety. I’ve felt that, at times, but your writing paints a beautiful landscape over time of the presence. It is also a testimony to positivity & acceptance for what is.
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Yes – you have hit on a truth, about acceptance; it’s hard to move forward, or around or through a thing, without it. Then there’s the aspect of possibilities that we cannot even see… I know that whatever we have needed was given to us right when we needed it most. Including, and especially, spiritual strength. Thank you, Amy, for your insightful and meaningful words!
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I think people find what they’re looking for and a lot of the times, what they need. You and your husband have been through a lot, and you also have so much joy. What a beautiful job you do, Fran, at finding all of it!
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For several years running, I chose “awe” as my OLW. I stopped choosing after that, as it remains my life-word. It remains a major thread in most everything I write, including this Slice. If we look, we can find so much, yes. More than we can even imagine. I am awed by the gift of life and by knowing that our needs – mine, my husband’s, my family’s – ever how great at times, have been met. Faith is a big part – as is knowing that, in the end, we are here to help each other through. That to me is the power and beauty of true community!
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Fran, I ran to the reading room for my copy of Billy Graham’s Angels book. You remind me that I’ve been meaning to read it again since it’s been a decade or two or four. I read it as a teenager and absolutely loved it. Since then, I’ve returned for a chapter here or there. Now your post inspires me to read it more fully. You are right – there are angels all around, if we only look for them. What a beautiful message your husband has delivered close to Easter in his sermons. And you take that message and bring it to us. The threads extend outward, upward, inward. Beautiful!
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We have that book somewhere- I will have to find it and reread it. This is ground that I walk so carefully…reverently. Thank you so much for your response, Kim.
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This is brilliant in so many ways. I will read it again and again. Bless you heaps.
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Thank for this lovely response – blessings to you also.
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Another insightful post where each moment, each reference, is carefully crafted to drive home your point. Yes, I believe in angels. Thank you for this reminder.
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Everything was suddenly coming up angels – what to do, but write? Since this, I’ve thought of more…thank you as always for your thoughts!
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My sister has always believed her grandson, as a baby, would see angels when he would smile and babble to seemingly nobody…
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Ah, this makes me think how the very young and the elderly are often able to see and experience more than the rest of us…times in life when “the veil” is thinner, perhaps.
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We have been made a little lower than the angels, so I am sure they are all around us. I have heard several stories like those of your husband’s over the years. I love the story of the dog, definitely the angel!
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I was wondering when someone would mention the dog! At last! When I first read that passage, I could see that dog staring and wagging its tail – I know that look – and so was convinced IT might have been the angel. After all – they do teach us the meaning of unconditional love.
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Fran, your post today has literally given me chills. I love the various ways you’ve shared about angels today. The dog photo at the close is priceless. I’m sure your husband’s heart attack was a real scare and that angels were with him. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
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Thank you so much, Barb – even the surgeons at the hospital said that “everything lined up miraculously for him” when he ran off the road with the cardiac arrest, including EMS reaching him in time to administer CPR… talk about heroes and help being provided exactly when needed. So much more to tell, really…I felt I had to include a photo of a golden retriever after that Walker passage!
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