Heaven Watching Over You

We all have angels guiding us... They look after us. They heal us, touch us, comfort us with invisible warm hands... What will bring their help? Asking. Giving thanks.
--Sophy Burnham

Do you remember the comfort and joy of an imaginary playmate when you were a child? Just because the rest of the world couldn't see your constant companion, didn't mean he or she wasn't Real. What's more, your reassuring companion spirit is still an immediate presence in your daily round - guarding, protecting, guiding, inspiring, and loving you - even if it's been a long time since you made mud pies together in the backyard.

Angels are our proof of God's love for us, continuous reminders that we're not alone. Almost everyone has had an experience of being pulled back from danger by an invisible force. At that moment we felt that Heaven was truly watching over us. And we were right. While over two-thirds of us believe in the existence of angels, not everyone is ready for an intimate earthly relationship with a heavenly superior being.

For the last three years I've enjoyed an intimate relationship with my guardian angel, whom I call Annie. As I committed to my spiritual growth, I consciously sought a mystical friendship, and it has brought me great joy, comfort, security, and peace. Annie's greatest gift has been helping me relax. She frequently reminds me that Real Life isn't a one-woman melodrama, although I have a tendency to keep rewriting the script. However much I'd like to, I've never seen her. Angels cannot be conjured up on demand; they're not genies in magic lamps. However, we can call on these constant companions to guide, help, and inspire us.

"Our angels know us more intimately that our parents or our spouses. They care passionately about our well-being, and about our physical health, too," Eileen Elias Freeman tells us. "They know what we do, what we pray, what we see and say. They watch over life and death of every single cell, and they love us, because they are beings who come from God, and God is love."

Although there are more books on angels today that ever danced on the head of a pin, Freeman's books, Touched By Angels and Angelic Healing, are my favorites. She argues convincingly that deep and abiding angelic encounters are only possible when we become aware that the special relationship we really seek is with Spirit. We may love the message and the messenger, but we should never forget the One who sent it.

As with every spiritual gift, we must ask our angels to help us. We must ask Spirit to deepen our relationship with our Heavenly guardians, offering thanks that the lines of celestial communication are continuously open.

-Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance - A Daybook of Comfort and Joy©1995

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.
--Mae Maloo

There was a woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live.So as she was getting her things "in order," she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible. Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. "There's one more thing," she said excitedly.

"What's that?" the pastor replied."

This is very important," the woman continued. "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."

The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say.

"That surprises you, doesn't it?" the woman asked.

"Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request," said the pastor.

The woman explained. "In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance! So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder, 'What's with the fork?' Then I want you to tell them: 'Keep your fork, the best is yet to come.'

The pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death.

However, he also knew that the woman had a better grasp of Heaven than he did. She knew that something better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the woman's casket and they saw the pretty dress she was wearing and her favorite Bible and the fork placed in her right hand.

Over and over, the pastor heard the question "What's with the fork?" And over and over, he smiled.

During his message, the pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. The pastor told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either. He was right.

The next time you reach for your fork let it remind you, oh so gently, that the best is yet to come.

Michael

email: Michael@N-Spire.com

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