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Musings: to meditate, think, contemplate, deliberate, ponder, reflect, ruminate, reverie, daydream, introspection, dream, preoccupation, brood, cogitate.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Angels


As I was washing dishes last night I studied the angel hanging over my sink my friend, Chris, gave me a few years ago.....
It is made from an orange peel.  I find the real feathers especially fun.  

I also have a wire angel hanging on my kitchen window....

That got me to wondering just how many other angels I had in the house.  This one is also in the kitchen given to me by my friend, Erma, who, I'm sure, is in heaven with the angels since her passing in 2004....

So I started my search.  This pair of angels was given to me by my manager at work one Christmas in the 1970's.  I always think of Billie when I see them and wonder where she is....

The praying angel on the right was given to me by my friend,  Carole, who helped me teach a Sunday School class.  Erma gave me the angel in the middle with the lantern.  The one on the left with the kitten I bought with the intention of giving it to someone and then decided to keep it for myself when I wasn't sure the person would want yet another angel for her already large collection....

This one is a music box I found on Martha's Vineyard last September.  The cherubs move about while the music plays so you may want to stop the YouTube music for a moment....



This little figurine with the tips of the wings broken off is stamped "Germany" on the bottom and came from my mother-in-law's house. I thought it went nicely with my grandmother's Hummel figurines....

My brother, Mark, gave me this stained glass angel in the 1970's....

The story behind this angel is interesting.  I'd written a children's story in January 1999 about a five-year-old angel named Gabriella, and I'd had been searching for just the right picture of a little angel to "illustrate" it.  That summer our friends, Mark and Sue, who'd moved away some years before stopped in unexpectedly for a visit.  They gave me a small package of these angel ornaments and immediately I saw my Gabriella....

I received this one from my Aunt Norma Lea when I was a young child.  She gave it to me as a reminder that I had a guardian angel.  I did not doubt her for one moment because the children in the painting looked exactly like my little brother and me....

....so when I found a miniature version of it I had to get it for my doll's house....

The Bible speaks of angels throughout and people have attested to feeling their presence.  Sometimes when out working in my garden the branches of the trees will suddenly move about wildly, then stop just as suddenly.  I can't help but feel that it is a host of angels observing me.  Scripture tells us we might be entertaining angels unawares when we feed a stranger.  Once when we lived in a townhouse community, a stranger knocked on my door early one morning saying she'd lost power at her house (just down the street from me) and my house was the only one with the porch light on.  She held an empty coffee cup and wondered if I might fill it with coffee.  I did, even though I thought her somewhat strange.  I never saw her again.  I've read stories about missionaries in remote parts of the world being protected by a legion of angels that drove away their attackers.  

I think we must be careful, though, not to worship angels as some do.  They are merely God's messengers and occasionally carry out God's mission, like when an angel stood in the road to block Balaam's way.  Balaam's donkey saw the angel and balked in fear.  Balaam merely thought his donkey was being stubborn.  

Only a few angels are named in the Bible such as  Michael and Gabriel.  And, of course, there are the fallen angels, the leader of which is known as Satan.  If you want to see what the Bible has to say about angels you can find the links HERE.  There are a myriad of books written about angels, as well, by such people as Billy Graham and Dr. David Jeremiah.  If you do find I've peaked your interest in angels I'd caution you to stick with Bible scholars for reliable information.  After all, angels were created by God and the Bible holds the only true information about them.


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