It is easy, especially now, to forget we exist amid an endless sea of angels.
With innumerable physical and electronic distractions around us, unless we make an intentional effort to “be still and know that I am God,” (Psalm 46:10), we will continue to live in the fear and overwhelm that grips us.
But angels, those “celestial beings of light” are, indeed, everywhere.
Though invisible to the eye, they accompany us wherever we are, wherever we go, whether we are asleep or awake – literally or metaphorically.
Most of the time, they act without us even realizing it, perhaps inspiring us to take a different route to work, ensuring we miss being involved in a major accident.
Occasionally, some catch a glimpse of them, when a helpful stranger suddenly appears out of nowhere, and disappears just as mysteriously, with no one else ever noticing.
I once wrote a column about being left behind as a young child by my family at a Streator softball field. While I wandered around looking for a familiar face, I was greeted by a woman, gentle and kind, who stayed with me until my parents realized they forgot me and came to pick me up.
Maybe this was a real woman, and maybe it wasn’t.
I have lived my life since then believing whomever it was, she was there at that time, in that place, to comfort a lost, scared little girl and make her feel calm and safe.
She was there because Someone wanted her to be there, to watch over me, to protect me ... one of billions of people throughout time whose “hairs on their head are even counted.”
She was there because she was an angel.
Those who are natural skeptics, and those who live a more sensory existence, believing in only what they can see, hear, taste, touch or smell with their incarnate body, might have difficulty believing in this spiritual reality.
But just because one doesn’t believe something is real or true, doesn’t mean it isn’t, in fact, real and true.
Recognizing the existence of angels, not to mention an entire invisible world around us, of which we can only perceive a minute portion, requires us to acknowledge that what Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote in “The Little Prince” has always been and will always be true:
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
More often than not, angels come to us serendipitously in our ordinary, concrete circumstances. They appear through a phone call from a friend; the care of a nurse or physician; individual attention from a teacher; our bond with a beloved pet; even the comfortable feeling of crawling under a pile of warm blankets at the end of a long, difficult day.
There is no limitation on how angels can minister to us, as they are expressions of an incomprehensibly limitless Divine Intelligence, as are we expressions of that same Reality of Wisdom and Love.
As painful as it is for some, we have to step outside our egos and acknowledge there is so much we do not know, so much we cannot know, so much we will never know.
Opening ourselves to the possibility that we as individuals and as a species are not, in fact, the center of the universe can pave the way to a much more enchanting life experience, right here on this little planet we call Earth, our current home in this vast and mysterious cosmos.
Angels are among us.
Acknowledge it, accept it, and believe these benevolent beings are here to guide and comfort us through the winding path of life.
You, and your life, will never be the same again.
- SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact Jerrilyn Zavada at jzblue33@yahoo.com to share how you engage your spirit in your life and community.