Frederick Beuchner wrote some time ago that we often limit our understanding of “reality” to that
which we can experience with our senses of sight, sound, taste, or touch. If I see it, it’s real.
Otherwise, it’s fantasy or imagination. Therefore, wrote Beuchner, we dismiss angels to the
domain of myth or fairy tale. Because we can’t see them, we tend to “thank our lucky stars”
when “This has been a great day,” or “I didn’t see that coming,” or “I had a feeling it would all
work out.” Lucky stars we can deal with. Angels? Don’t be silly.
Biblically, an angel is “God’s messenger.” In other words, it’s a person (or some living entity)
who communicates to us things we call “higher values,” things like hope or compassion,
courage or inspiration, tenderness or joy. So, an angel doesn’t necessarily have to possess
wings and a halo. Almost anyone we run across has the potential to do, say, or be something
angelic if we pay attention.
Many years ago, my college academic advisor (the late Dr. Owen Weatherly) said to me: “Try
not to ignore the voices of people who don’t see life your way. At worst, they are momentary
irritations. At best, they can help you grow.” In the years since when I have remembered his
advice, my perspective, understanding of life, and worldview have matured in ways that would
have been impossible had I built walls to exclude those who see things differently than I. His
counsel was a vessel of truth that has impacted and enhanced my life. When he shared those
words with me, he was angelic.
A friend of mine who has been incredibly successful in the not-for-profit world (building a
national network that assists thousands of people who struggle with emotional challenges in life)
told me of an experience with an older woman when my friend was a young adult. The young
woman suffered from a serious lack of self-esteem due to parents who were consistently critical
and almost never loving or nurturing. So, my friend had been programmed to believe that she
was not smart enough, capable enough, attractive enough, engaging enough, anything enough
to do much with her life. One day the older woman stopped her in the hall of a building and
asked her to come into her office. Once inside, the older woman took her by the shoulders and
guided her to a place where she was standing in front of a mirror. “What do you see?,” she
asked. The somewhat confused young woman answered, “I don’t know” (unsure of what she
was supposed to be looking at). Her older friend replied, “Correct! You don’t know. You don’t
know that woman who looks back at you every time you stand in front of a mirror. You don’t
seem to recognize her strengths, her beauty, her God-given abilities, her academic intellect as
well as her street smarts. So, I have an assignment for you. I want you to begin and end every
day by standing in front of a mirror, looking yourself in the eyes, and saying three words to the
woman you see there: `You are enough’!” My friend calls that the turning point in her life. One
person helped another see herself as she really was, and from that day forward her life began to
blossom. Her older friend was angelic.
I know a man who lost his wife several years ago. His children are grown and living on the other
side of the country from him. The man lives in an apartment in New York City. He said that every time he returns home from an outing, his dog is waiting at the door. She wags her tail energetically at the mere sight of him. She cuddles next to him on the sofa and quietly snoozes as he watches TV. She sleeps in a bed next to his and scratches on his bed several times a night until he pets her head, then she returns to her own cushion. “She just checks on me,” is how he describes it. “Coming back to an empty apartment can be a really lonely thing,” he told me once. “But because of that little dog, I never actually feel alone.” If an angel is an entity that communicates truth to us, then his dog is angelic.
Biblically they are referred to as “angels unaware,” messengers of value and insight who cross
our paths in such normal ways that we almost fail to notice who they really are. The school
teacher or coach or grandparent or friend or child who does, says, or is something that helps us
discover life in a new way – they are angelic. Forget your lucky stars. All around you every day
are angels, if you just keep your eyes and hearts open for them. Give it some thought.