The Gift

I use angels like Post-it Notes. And I’m not stingy with them. If I’m assigning them to a teenage driver, I ask for four...one on each fender and maybe another on top if I’m really uneasy. House? Hundreds.

For years and years I have relied on them but always for protection. I didn’t think of them as specialized; or I didn’t conceive of the idea that specialized help might be, well, so helpful, let alone available.

Then I sat for two aloof cats in a very calm, neat, even sparse house. A large bookshelf was a veritable library on angels. Since chores took five minutes and cats were neither playful nor lap-interested, our policy of staying at least a half an hour meant that I should just “be” for a few minutes. So I sat down with a book on Getting to Know and Communicate with your Angels.

It was a black day. There’s such a deep sadness about watching your beautiful vivacious daughter face the indignities and mutilations of breast cancer. I’m a person of too much faith to worry or regret. Life 101 is a difficult course. But as a mother and especially since my thirties was a glamorous, fun, exciting time, I can’t believe my daughter must rise to such challenges so early.

So whipping through the How To’s of Angelic E-mail, I asked for two specialists. I wanted an Angel of Time and Priorities. Some celestial being who would make time abundant for me. Not just provide the time, but to help me utilize the time. When I’m down I can stare at the Foxy Pet Sitting Schedule for 5 minutes before “coming to.” The clock will magically go from 8:30 to 11:30 and the desk would still be cluttered, the laundry stacked, the flowers unwatered, the breakfast half eaten and six coffee cups scattered around the house. I really needed a Time Specialist.

Then my second request was for Joy. Send me a Celestial Specialist who was a bit on the frivolous side who would help me find happiness wherever I looked. In a dog’s puzzled face, a thirsty flower, an embedded grease spot eradicated! Close at hand, I wanted good old fashioned Joy.

Well, dear audience, the results were spectacular. Angelic Time Manager flew in and shook me like a puppet on strings. Clutter flew to their correct homes, the carpets were vacuumed, the dogs brushed, the phone calls made.......why hadn’t I used this service before? Do you really have to be desperate to qualify? Sort of a heavenly version of getting food stamps?

And Angelic Joy! She appeared like bubbles in wine. My voice lightened at least two keys. My face cracked and smiled. My chest opened and I could breathe again. And then......the best thing yet.....I got a new toy! A totally unexpected, un-asked-for, unknowable toy. By unknowable I mean I didn’t know I wanted it, hadn’t a clue until it appeared. It went down like this:

I had been watching the Thompson dog for a week. Abby is a 13-year-old lab and the whole family was on a mission trip and didn’t want to kennel her anymore, so I said she could come and stay with us. In the course of a week, she got Aunt Marlyn’s spa and vet treatment because I couldn’t stand to see her ears itch, her nails click, her coat go unbrushed, a nasty lump in her mouth ignored, etc. etc.

Jan and the Twins came to pick her up and slowly notice all the changes....this is a very loved dog. I’m trying to get the girls to help me put some music on an MP3 player that is part of a CD player. Their reaction is that my equipment and technology is badly outdated and clumsy. Jan suddenly says, I Know What She Needs! and before I know what is happening, I am being propelled out of the house, into their van by three very forceful females.......no purse, no Kleenex, no prior potty break. Off to Wal-Mart we speed where they select a wonderful MP3 with pictures and 30 G of memory and ear buds. Jo puts it on my computer and demands my music. I learn to “rip” music.....doesn’t that sound deliciously illegal or fattening? I learn about music stores on line.......that has my Jean Redpath and Bagpipes! And to Sync! Whoa!

And then to make a complete fool of myself next day walking dogs and weaving to the music in my ear buds! Time Manager really had to be on his/her toes because Joy kept leading me to “Rip” more music and learn about getting e-books from the library on line. As Gavin says, WOW.

The moral of this story is........forget about asking for courage, strength, and all the heavy virtues. We’ve been shopping in the wrong departments.......God has a TOY STORE!! Go for Cheerful Hearts!