These things I warmly wish for you: Someone to love, some work to do, a bit o’ sun, a bit o’ cheer, and a guardian angel always near.

— Irish Blessing

I think I must believe in guardian angels.  Why do I think that?  And why don’t I know for sure?  Let’s start with a question that comes before those two – why am I asking about believing in guardian angels??  Well, it started with PattiAnn’s post, Protect Yourself when she asked:

Do you know what you believe and do your beliefs empower you?  Do you still believe in you?

And then I listened to me talking to myself about the incident I’ve decided to call “Out of Sorts”.  Here’s my Out of Sorts Story and I’m stickn’ to it:

My Out of Sorts Story

Awhile back, my Monday got off to a bumpy start, or so I thought.  I woke up early to go for a walk.  But I just didn’t feel like walking so instead I slowly got going with the rest of my day, a busy one: doing some fun stuff and some necessary but “junk” stuff like returning library books on time, making copies of resource pages from some of those library books, yada yada…

Anyway, I’d figured out what I needed to do before I left but I neglected to consider how much time it would take to get it all done.  Consequently, despite the early wake up and the time “saved” from not walking, I was running late.

And then, as I headed out the door, I realized that it was COLD, dreary, and drizzly outside and I was dressed for warm sunshine.  Back to the closet I went to find warmer clothes. (Quickly please, I’m LATE!)  And, in my hurry, I left a pile of clothes on the bed to come back to… Grumble, grumble, grumble.  Well, finally, I got out the door, later than late and feeling out of sorts; my day was rapidly going tilt… still, I cajoled, I was on my way into my day, only a little off plan.

Not in rewards, but in the strength to strive, the blessing lies.

— J. T. Towbridge

And, naturally, since I was late, I caught a red light at the signal.  While I waited not so very patiently for the green light, sirens suddenly blared and a police car came roaring into the intersection, screeching ‘round the corner on two wheels, fishtailing on the slippery pavement but recovering… and then an ambulance and two MORE cop cars… all going where I wanted to go.  Uh oh.  Sure enough, a VERY bad accident lay up ahead, two cars were now facing the wrong way in my lanes, one of them crumpled, injured people on the curb, oh my.

Traffic control redirected us back the way we came and I, still striving to “do my day” detoured to my original destination.

And then it hit me – Sometimes running late is a good thing – my day might not have been going according to my plan BUT if I’d been on time it quite easily could have been me and my car that got T-boned by the errant left turner! I was late and out of kilter but still whole and healthy.  Thank God for my guardian angel who sometimes “messes with my Mondays” and brings me blessings in disguise.

And then I got to wondering: What about the people who were involved in the accident, the people who were injured, don’t they have guardian angels too? And if so, were said angels asleep at the switch or what?  Or was there a blessing in disguise going on there as well?  Guess I’ll never know.

Sure Enough, I Believe, Don’t I?

But in the meantime, I began to wonder: since apparently I do believe in guardian angels, what is it I believe about them?  What is it I think they do?  Do they intervene in our lives?  Mess with us?  Make traffic lights turn red to keep some of us from getting into trouble?  How come I get blessed but apparently others do not?

And, all that ruminating got me all tied up in my shorts.  Trying to figure all this out just isn’t working out for me.  So, I decided to let it go.  I do believe I believe in my own guardian angel but I can’t tell you what exactly she does, how she does it or whether I have only one.  Or whether you and everybody else also have one or more.

And, even though I can’t explain it, I believe and that’s as far as I’m willing to go in the thought process.  And while I lack clarity about my belief, I can say this: I think believing in guardian angels is empowering.

’Nother Thing About Guardian Angels

I’ve seen and met angels wearing the disguise of ordinary people living ordinary lives.

— Tracy Chapman

I also believe that we are, each and every one of us, capable of being guardian angels to others.  And that we are doubly blessed when we can do good deeds that ease others through major and/or minor adversities.  The Sunday Parade Magazine recently featured a story about people taking care of people, just because.

Pulitzer prize winner, Tom Hallman wrote about a barber in Portland Oregon:

A Barber Bounces Back

Bob Schlick lifted the blanket and stared down at his left leg. Days earlier, on Oct. 27, 2008, a drunk driver had nearly hit him head-on, forcing Schlick to lay his motorcycle down and scrape along the pavement. He managed it, but his leg needed to be amputated below the knee. A pragmatist, Schlick believed that in time he’d learn to function. What worried him was the fate of Pacwest Hair Design, his one-man barbershop in the heart of downtown Portland, Ore.

Pacwest was more than a paycheck—Schlick had been a barber for 44 years. The surgeon had warned him that he’d need eight more operations before he could be fitted for a prosthesis. Since he’d be unable to stand, Schlick wouldn’t be able to go back to his job for months, and in a fickle world, he doubted that even his best customers would wait for him to return.

I’ll leave the rest of the story for you to read: suffice to say that his customers, competitors, friends and family all came through for Pacwest and:

Before long, there was so much life in his shop that Schlick vowed to get back to work. He began doing 200 sit-ups a day, hobbled around on crutches, and bought a stool so he could sit and cut hair. Even so, he insisted that his colleagues not cut him any slack.

In my not so humble opinion, Schlick had a legion of guardian angels “messing” with his life.  Blessings upon blessings.

And, although in her post, Angels to the Rescue, PattiAnn calls them simply “angels” I personally think it’s fair to add “guardian” to her description of the legions of military and law enforcement personnel who protect us:

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a focus on thanking our military personnel and we do owe them a debt of gratitude.  We need to remember that at home, we also owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women who serve in the police and fire departments.  They are our angels.  They do their best to keep us safe – from others and from ourselves.

Yes indeed, THANK YOU to all our angels!

Do You Believe in Guardian Angels?

I do. And I appreciate any messing they do for me.  Even so, I will continue doing as much as I know how to do to be responsible and proactive in managing my health and wellbeing and I’ll try even harder to be alert to those moments when I might act as guardian angel to others in my life.

Angels around us, angels beside us, angels within us. Angels are watching over you when times are good or stressed. Their wings wrap gently around you, whispering you are loved and blessed.

— Angel Blessing

What about you?  Do you believe in guardian angels?