THIS WORLD is full of angels. Messengers of God. And because they’re in this world, because they’re here, in the flesh, with you and me, they sometimes wonder, with us, “how can I live?” Sometimes, of course, they answer their own question, or have it answered for them, inwardly, by God. All angels, nevertheless, need and deserve encouragement and assurance from the people amongst whom they live, and move, and have their being.

Angels are very aware of this need, of this being dependent upon something, upon someone, beyond their immediate selves. That’s how they become angels. Knowing their own need, and sometimes barely able to see through the pain of that need (and – by the Grace of God – the gift of healing tears) they are able to recognise and respond to the (often silent) human cries in others. And I know an angel called Mary, who is an inspiration, and who finds “life and hope in all the shades of green of the trees …” (I hope you like red tulips too, Mary).

As I stand at the bus stop in the early morning, tears streaming down my face, and wondering how I can live, I call myself back to the present moment.  “What in this moment can I feel and enjoy and be glad for?” God is encountered in the present moment, in all the sights, and smells and sounds, in each person we encounter and with whom we interact.  I find life and hope in all the shades of green of the trees and in the white blossom unfurling amidst the leaves.  I am alone in the world at this time.  Me and the possibilities of the day ahead.

At work of course, life finds me.  Here, in all my interactions with people, I find myself and all of us to be a part of something much greater than we are on our own.  In the very solid, real world of bodies and poo and blood and sick, and tears and fears and confusion, of laughter and love and violence, of connection, I find my greatest sense of the mysterious.  Work gives me life.  Giving my empty self to everybody, I end each day full up to the brim.  A day which has begun with wondering how I can live..,

via Depression and God and Other People and Me – And Three Cheers for Us All | All Now Mysterious.

I called at the Hospice again this afternoon. Again and again my life is touched and blessed by the ministries of angels from God. Alleluia!