THURSDAY THOUGHTS - Angels Among Us

I have to take a minute here and express my gratitude to our guest blogger, Kathy Christensen.  She always has a Thursday Thoughts post ready to go each week.  I've been so behind lately, that I've been forgetting to post her articles.  It's happened quite frequently.  I know from experience how much time it takes to prepare a meaningful post, and I want to apologize to her for taking so long to post her articles.  I always love to read Kathy's posts... they are straight from the heart, they have great advice.  Here is the post that Kathy sent me last week (that I promised to post... LAST week.  Again... sorry about that, Kathy)...

A popular writer once expressed the fact that expecting a trouble free life because you are a good person is like expecting the bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian. One fact is sure…..there are more than enough problems to go around. Nevertheless, I believe strongly that help is at hand and angels are available around the clock to help us in our times of need. I remember just over four years ago laying on  hospital bed in the ultrasound room when the radiologist said, “This doesn’t look good….we had better do a biopsy.” Of course, this unsettling news caused my mind to begin racing. At that very moment I was enveloped in a powerful cloud of comfort; a feeling a peace and love so strong that it was almost tangible. I remember thinking to myself, “If it feels this way to die….bring it on!” I still don’t know for sure the source of this incredible feeling, but I strongly suspect my Grandma Belle, who died in 1988, was there to calm me. Whatever it was, was not of this world and it calmed so thoroughly that I slept like a baby for two nights while I awaited the biopsy results. Of course, the biopsy revealed Breast Cancer, but we caught it early, it was treatable and the rest is history.

                The country singing group, Alabama, recorded a song entitled “Angels Among Us.” The chorus goes like this:

                                Oh I believe there are angels among us
                                Sent down from somewhere up above
                                They come to you and me in our darkest hours
                                To show us how to live, to teach us how to give
                                To guide us with the light of love.

                Recently, our family had another most touching experience. One of our many young cousins had just celebrated her fourth birthday. As she was talking about her party the next day with her mother she commented, “My favorite present is the invisible one from my Grandma.” As her mother asked her to expound, she replied,

“The Grandma who just died, ‘Grandma Joyce.’ She’s here all the time, Mom, you just can’t see her.” By now her mother was totally tuned in and asked, “What does she look like?” This small four year old continued by explaining,  “She looks like a ghost, but not a scary one.” I am sure my mom was present to give this little great granddaughter of hers, an extra measure of comfort in her life for reasons that may even be unknown to us.

                 It’s good to know that someone much wiser than we are is calling the shots and knows when to send us extra help. While it is true our complex society holds more than enough challenges for all of us, it is also true that help is available to guide us along if we keep our spirits tuned in.

Kathy Christensen