The Christmas season abounds with angel stories. I offer mine below, acknowledging that sometimes it seems the right words haven’t yet been discovered.
A couple of years ago during a time when I was unemployed, I took a trip to the supermarket. There was a soft storm approaching as I went in to shop. Having completed my shopping, I went out the side door to load my car. By that time, it was raining slow soft tears. There was a lady standing there trading glances between her bicycle and a loaded shopping cart. It was as if the bicycle was mocking her cart of hopes.
Now many of us have helped others, I’m not telling this story to secure accolades, as I’ve clearly fallen short on my list of charitable acts, but I want to relate what happened next. I asked her “Are you alright? Do you need some help?”
She said that she was new to town, and that she had purchased more than she could load into the bike’s baskets. I offered to load her bike and groceries into my Tahoe and to take her home, she countered that she could ride home, but if I would follow her with the groceries, she would be grateful. That’s what we did. She lived only minutes from the store. I backed the car up to her garage and unloaded her groceries. She explained that she had just moved to town, apologizing for the mess in her garage. I said it was no big deal. We parted.
This is the part you need to know. For the rest of the day and for some time afterwards, this feeling settled on me that is a little hard to explain, one that is not of this world. It was as if I had touched Heaven. I’ve often told my kids to be kind to others as you never know when you are entertaining angels (an admitted plagiarism.) I look back and wonder if one was present that day. I think about that lady from time to time, and I wonder if she had any hand in the shower of graces that followed, or is it that God wants us to know what He thinks is important.
May your days be as blessed, and may you find peace and joy in those rare moments of quiet.
Merry Christmas to all!
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