I got an email from Stephen’s niece, Sister Elizabeth Kettle, who is currently serving her mission in Missouri. I love getting her emails every week. One my favorite things I always look forward to are her spiritual thoughts. This week she talked about angels and mentioned a conference talk given by Elder Carlos A. Godoy from the October 2020 general conference session. In his talk he quoted Elder Jeffery R. Holland who said, “When we speak of those who are instruments in the hand of God, we are reminded that not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods. … Indeed heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind”
I love that we talk about people on earth being angels because it’s true. One of the most recent examples is two weeks ago I took all the kids with me to Costco to buy food for a busy weekend where we were in charge of feeding a large group for several days. The kids love going to Costco, so I decided to make an afternoon of it and have lunch there with them. All was going great until it was time for me to find my way through the big crowd for the food on my list. It was a holiday weekend, so there were a lot more people in the store than normal. After 10-15 minutes of weaving through people in the isles and telling the kids to stay to the side so they were out of the way I started to get irritated and frustrated because the kids were not behaving how I’d hoped they would. They were playing, fighting, running, and yelling at each other and it was difficult for me to keep my composure. I pulled them aside and reminded them of my expectations while in the store. All was good for another few minutes. When we got to one isle I was looking for something on my list and, so I had to pull over to the side and told the kids to do the same so they weren’t in the way of other shoppers. As I looked down at my list I felt someone gently grab my arm. I looked up and saw an older lady smile at me and she said, “There isn’t anywhere in Costco that you won’t be in the way. Just relax.” She chuckled and walked away. She must have seen my exasperated look of defeat or frustration as I was talking to the kids. But in that moment I knew she was an angel and I am so grateful she was there to bring me back to earth.
Another experience I had with an angel was back in the summer of 2017 when we were getting ready to sell our house in Midvale. We were told to weed the front flowerbeds so we could take some pretty pictures for the listing. I was 8 months pregnant and not able bend over very easily or very comfortably. I needed help. I asked the youth in our ward to come help us if they could, and told them I’d paid them to come help me weed. No one showed up. So I set off to do it by myself. After struggling with pulling weeds for some time a young man about 15 years old came walking down the road. He stopped and asked if I needed help. I was in disbelief. Where did he come from? The direction he came from was a dead end. He said he was on his way home from wrestling practice. I was confused, but gladly accepted his help. He helped me weed two big flower beds for an hour. He was an angel in my hour of need.
I know I have had many more angels helping me in my life. I am so grateful for the love of Christ that radiates through people willing to help and serve others. Service truly is the pure love of Christ.
