Wouldn't It Be Grand To Be An Angel?

I am a nurse and I have spent the better part of the last ten years working with and caring for cancer patients. For me, this has been a great privilege. I stand in awe of the men and women who bravely face this disease and do so with such grace and integrity. So many of them refer to those of us who care for them as "angels," but I think they are the ones who are angels. In the past ten years, I have learned more from my patients about life, love, and facing whatever life throws at you than I did in all my years before I became a nurse. I now know that no matter how difficult life gets, there is a way to face it with grace and dignity.

One of my patients gave me a book by Ann Weems called Kneeling in Bethlehem. In the book she marked a poem that I would like to share with you. Every time I read it, it brings a smile to my face. I hope it makes you smile as well.

Wouldn't It Be Grand To Be An Angel?

Wouldn't it be grand to be an angel
and have as your address
"The Realms of the Glory of God"?

And swing on rainbows,
and gather stars in your pockets,
winging in and out of earth in a flurry of moondust
with the messages of God?

Comforting the distressed, warning the righteous,
delivering the just, guarding little children?

Of course, we can comfort and warn
and deliver and guard.

Maybe, if we get that right,
we can swing on rainbows later.

I hope so. I hope that I can get it right and swing on a rainbow someday. Every time I see a rainbow I imagine Becca swinging along it's colorful arcs. And each night when I gaze at the stars, I am sure that Becca has gathered them together and their light is shining down on me as she gathers the stars into her pocket.

Thanks, Becca. Thanks for sharing your light with me.

To whom will you be an angel this week? Leave me a comment and let me know.