Angels Amongst Us

"All God's angels come to us disguised." - James Russell Lowell

I believe in angels and am pretty sure they walk amongst us all the time. Admittedly, I have a vivid imagination, but over the years I've encountered what were most surely angels over and over again. Sometimes they come in the form of a misfit animal, limping down the street or dumped on my doorstep, in need of food and lodging until I find them a new home. Those angels tend to show up at the most inconvenient times, but invariably, before they leave, give back more than they have received.

Other angels show up to provide support or rescue at exactly the right time. One such angel appeared to me in a Piggly Wiggly parking lot on a very rainy day shortly after we moved to Georgia. My groceries were in paper sacks and as I carried them towards the car, the sacks gave way and my food went rolling all over the parking lot. Alone, overwhelmed, homesick, wet and sad, I sat down on the bumper of my car and cried.

Then, I heard a voice, the softest, kindest, gentlest voice I've ever heard, say, "There, there, Sugar - everything's going to be alright." I looked up and there was a brightly dressed Black woman, with the most lit-up face. She had a scarf on, but the rain didn't seem to even be falling on her and in what seemed like an instant, she had my food gathered up in a canvas shopping bag and loaded in the car. Before she left, she hugged me really tight and whispered again, "I mean it, Sugar, everything's going to be just fine for y'all here." Then she was gone, poof! I have no memory of watching her walk away.   

That was such an inconsequential thing, helping me with my groceries in the rain; but, at the time it seemed like a miracle because what that angel really did was give me hope that things would turn out okay in my new home. And, it's clear, 23 years later, she was right.   

Another angel came to Mr. Clark and I at a time when we were under a lot of stress, things were going poorly for us financially and our marriage was a mess. It was a hot Sunday morning in August, six years ago. Our daughter was getting married in a few days and we were trying to spruce things up for a houseful of out-of-town guests. One of the things on our to-do list was repair an old building in the back yard with some barn wood. We had spotted a collapsed barn on what appeared to be a deserted lot out in the country and we were headed that way.

As Mr. Clark started to back into what once had been a driveway, he landed our old pickup truck in a ditch so deep there was no way out. In trying to pull out of the ditch, he buried the truck axle-deep. There we were, seething and sweating in the hot sun, pretty much hating each other for a million reasons other than that we were stuck in the middle of nowhere and neither of us had remembered to bring our cell phone. It was a tipping points and the only thing we agreed on was that once we got this wedding pulled off, a divorce would be next.

Then, out of the clear blue, a great big diesel pickup truck pulled up - it was black, a huge dualie with a winch on the front. A tall, fit-looking Asian man, dressed in a Sunday suit got out and said, "You look like you could use some help." Then, before we could even respond, he opened a large tool box in the back of the truck, got out some tow cables and other things and had our old truck out of the ditch before we could register what was going on.  

He did this without getting any mud or dirt on his clothes or shoes; his hands weren't even dirty and I don't recall that he wore gloves. "This really wasn't such a big deal," he said, as he stepped back into his truck and prepared to drive away. "You're going to be alright, trust me on this." Then, poof! just like the angel in the Piggly Wiggle parking lot, he was gone. Neither of us could remember seeing him drive away....

"You know that was an angel," Mr. Clark said; this would be Mr. Clark, the computer guy, who doesn't believe in such things. "His message was pretty clear. We can get through this if we just stick together." And, like the other angel, the angel in the black truck was right.  

Luciano de Crescenzo said, "We are each of us angels with only one wing and we can only fly by embracing one another." What a lovely thought, especially for the holiday season. There's no better time than now to reach out and fly a little closer to one another...After all, who knows what kind of angels are out there, just waiting to be seen?