Lent: Angels

That time when...

I was three. There was a substitute driver for my ride home. And suddenly there I was...left behind. Slowly the school emptied. The sky darkened to night.  Soon, I was alone with the man hired to watch the place - a stranger. I was confused and curious, but not at all frightened. I sat on his "this chair is too big" and waited. Then, somehow, I was back home. 

I was six and home alone with my grandmother. "I'm not feeling well," she said. "Please bring your little chair and sit next to me while I take a nap." And so I sat. "She's OK," my parents said when they returned home. But I knew from the hushed conversations about doctors and medications and plenty of "what nows?" that it must have been serious.

I was in the delivery room just having given birth. Without warning my world went dark. My hearing, though, was sharp. Every machine to which I was attached beeped rapidly and blared warning sounds. Panic set in. I heard rushing feet and quick movements around me. "I don't want to leave my baby without a mother!" And just as quickly as it left, my sight returned. And the monitors and I slowly returned to a peaceful state.

I was a new mom going to the grocery store. I juggled baby, diaper bag, purse, keys, and shopping list. I placed my little one in a cart and turned away to get everything else in order. Immediately, a command: Turn around! Now! There stood a young man with greedy eyes locked on my precious child. And when I turned, he smiled and walked away.

Were there angels? Was it the voice of God? Was it just a good, honorable man and competent medical staff? Was it intuition? 

As one of my professors used to say, "Yes." 

They are all divine.