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Real Answers™
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Copyright: © 2007 Donald E. Lindman
625 words

LIVING LIFE ONE ANGEL SHORT

By: Don Lindman

An angel announced the conception of Jesus to Mary and to Joseph.  There was a choir of angels when the shepherds heard the news on a Bethlehem hillside.  The magi had a special star to guide them to “the place where the child lay.”

But in the frustration and inconvenience of overcrowded Bethlehem; in the dark, dirty stable behind the inn, filled with animal bellowings and smells; in the pain, sweat, wetness and messiness of childbirth, there was no star, no angel to reassure and comfort the peasant couple who were alone, adrift, and probably afraid.

Life is like that.  At a time when we could sure use a pat on the back and a reassurance that things really are going the way they should, we look for an angel, only to find the angel missing.  Life comes up an angel short.

I know the feeling.

When our daughter died in an auto accident we had plenty of “stars” and “angels,” reassurances that God was there, that He knew what was going on, and that He cared.  There were “miracles”—“divine coincidences”—unlike anything I’ve experienced before or since.

But I’ve wished God would have saved one—just one—of those “angels” for my reassurance at other times.  On those occasions I’ve looked for evidence that God knew what was happening to me and would go through it with me.  But there was no angel, no star.

What does one do when there is an angel missing?

We do what Mary did: fall back on the promises of God.  Those promises had carried her through the disgrace of an unwed pregnancy and through the uncertainties that go with bearing destiny’s child.  God had been faithful before; He would be faithful now.  Her experience with Him assured her of that.

Angels did come later, in the person of the shepherds and the magi, of Simeon and Anna in the temple courtyard.  God doesn’t leave us angel-less forever. 

But the Scripture says that Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”  The angels and the star, the wise men and the shepherds: she did a lot of thinking about these things.

We’re not told so, but I believe that this treasure trove of memories was opened as she stood at the foot of a cross on Golgotha’s hill, where her son hung dying and looking anything but a Messiah or a Savior.  No angel was present then, either.

But she had the treasure of promises and memories to carry her through until, three days later, another angel announced, “He is risen.”

God still uses angels—the Greek word is literally “messengers”—in His own way and time, but we also possess a life full of experiences and a Bible full of promises.  We, too, have a treasure trove.

Most of us fail to cultivate them—to “ponder them” in our own hearts.  Then, when we could use them, they aren’t there.  We’ve stashed them away and forgotten about them.

Learn from Mary.  Look for angels and stars this Advent, but don’t forget what you’ve already stored up in your heart.

"Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

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