Thought for the Week-Blank

Good Morning Girlfriends!

As I sat and tried to prepare for this Thought, my mind was completely blank.  This is not the first time that I've been hit with a substantial case of Writer's Block.  I began thumbing through scraps of my ideas and low and behold...I came across the topic of angels.  Terrific!  I now had a plan!  Slight problem: I don't know all that much about angels.   How can I effectively talk to y'all about a subject that I know practically nothing about?  My only comfort is that the topic of angels has eluded some of the most brilliant minds throughout all of history, so I’m in extremely good company. 

While trying to wrack my brain, I began searching angel quotes.  I found some pretty decent ones to begin our discussion.  I'll share some of them with you throughout today's Thought.  My mind is spinning in a about six different directions today, so please bear with the unusual format. 

James Russell Lowell says that “All God’s angels come to us disguised.”  Oddly enough, that’s pretty much what the book of Hebrews tells us, too.   That statement is backed up by Hebrews 13:2 “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”  Bottom line: you never know who is going to come across your path.  God will sometimes, (and I truly believe He does this) put His holy ones directly in front of us to guard and protect us or help us or teach us something.  For instance, Abraham and Sarah fed and watered three strangers on a hot day which turned out to be so much more than mere men.  They were messengers from God announcing that Sarah would indeed bear a child to Abraham in her nineties.  See Genesis 18 for the full account.

I have not had the pleasure of actually laying eyes on an angel, but I can guarantee that God has placed more than one on my “clean-up detail” throughout my life!  “Insight is better than eyesight when it comes to seeing an angel” says Eileen Elias Freeman.  I believe that.  Psalm 104:3-4 reads, “He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.  He makes the winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.”  Think about this for a minute.  No one can see the wind.  But, you can most certainly see the effect that the wind has the objects around it.  Now, this passage from Psalm is speaking of the greatness and glory of the majesty of God--and that it is so great that He is even surrounded by wind and fire, and even His messengers are wind and fire, but as His messengers are such things--their effects are going to be made abundantly clear to us.  God uses the inner voice He built into our hearts to speak to us and that same inner eye to show us things like His angels.  Pay attention to your insight---chances are, it will be able to see way better than your eyesight.

“Children often have imaginary friends.  I suspect that half of them are really their guardian angels.”  Eileen Elias Freeman  Even though the Bible doesn’t specifically use the word “guardian”, and I am the last person to try and add words to Scripture, we can infer from certain passages that that is exactly what God is telling us.  Matthew 18:11 tells us, “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”  I have children, all of us know that.  Do you know how many times I have come upon my kiddos playing with someone, talking to or heard them singing with someone who wasn’t there?  My daughter, Emma does this all the time.  As I sit here and hammer this out, it has occurred to me (slowly) that she could very well be playing with her guardian angel.  Of course she has her brothers to keep her company (and irritated) during the day, but I listen to her voice drifting down the stairs at night after I’ve put everyone to bed.  She’s up in her room, and she’s talking to someone.  She’s done this on more than one occasion.  She sings to them, laughs with them, and simply just visits with them.  It has never occurred to me to ask her who she’s talking to.  I believe that God opens the hearts of children to such things more readily than He does adults.  For what reason, I cannot answer.  I pray that Emma always keeps that light.  I pray that if, indeed, it is her angel that visits with her at night, her eyes are always able to see him. 

The last thing I want to talk about, is the path that we’ve all found ourselves on.  I found this quote: “You’ll meet more angels on a winding path, than a straight one.”  There is no doubt about that!  When I was still working for the church there was a running joke in the office that most of the administrative staff was there to offer "clean-up duty" for me.  I would open my mouth and let stuff just come pouring out, without even thinking about how it may sound!  Odd as it sounds, I’ve always been that way...comforting to know, I'm sure--I have mellowed somewhat as I’ve gotten older.  My shenanigans are not quite as daring nor are they as stupid or life-threatening now as they were in my youth.  Today's clean-up crew now consists of pastors and advisors, but back in the day, there’s no doubt in my mind--God sent an army of angels to follow me around.  He must’ve done.  There’s really no other reason for me to have lived through my single days.  Job 33:22-26  “His soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the messengers of death. Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, 'Spare him from going down to the pit;  I have found a ransom for him'-then his flesh is renewed like a child's; it is restored as in the days of his youth.  He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state.” 

I know those words to be true.  I know if weren’t for God sending His angels to watch over me, guide me, and at times forcibly put me on the right path, I would not be here today.  Nothing is too hard for God.  Nothing is out of His reach.  Let me ask you one thing: have you seen your angel lately?  Have you looked?  Understand one thing as we part: God is in the details.  Just because you can’t always see Him working around you, doesn’t mean He’s not there.  He may come to you on a breeze.  He may come to you as a stranger or over the phone through the voice of a friend.  He’s never further away than a heartbeat.  Have a blessed week! 
 
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