Angels in the Off Season

 

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

                                    -- 1 Timothy 6:6

 

            January must be the favorite time of the angels, when they look back on the Christmas season and all the good they did, and smile. Do angels have an off season? I doubt it. But I know they are extra active in December, right around Christmas, because that's when I hear the most about wonderful things that happen that have an angelic twist about them that I just love.

 

            A friend was telling about a co-worker of hers, a legal (!) immigrant with an unemployed husband and two preschoolers. They were living in a one-bedroom apartment and just very deprived and disadvantaged, even though the co-worker showed up with a smile on her face for work every day and didn't complain.

 

My friend told another friend about it, and in turn, she told her husband, who's an old softie. Their hearts went out to this poor, struggling immigrant. He told his wife to go to the ATM and take out the max cash, $200, to give to the friend to give to the co-worker.

 

            Meanwhile, the immigrant had asked her boss for an advance on her paycheck to cover a day-care enrollment fee. It was crucial that the child get in to that center so that her husband could look for work. Because it was an irregular request, though, the boss had to ask her boss. He said no. So the boss - herself a struggling single mother - gave the immigrant the money out of her own pocket. There went HER Christmas cushion, money she was planning on using for a number of Christmas extras and mini-extravagances. But oh, well. It was for a good cause, and all that.

 

            How much was that day-care enrollment fee that the boss covered? You guessed it: $200.

 

            The exact same amount that the couple had given to help the immigrant they'd never met.

 

What a "coincidence." Yeah. Right.

 

Naturally, our friend handed over the $200 to the nice boss, to make up for the $200 she'd handed over in sacrificial thoughtfulness to the immigrant. So she got paid back for her generosity - which seems to only inspire more and more of the same kinds of good deeds.

 

Just to ice the cake, it turns out she used to work as a hospice nurse, and she recognized that couple's name, because she had taken care of one of their favorite relatives in her last illness. They, in turn, remembered her as being extra loving and caring. They were so happy to be able to return the favor.

 

            Angel payback! It's the best kind!

 

            Of course, money can't buy the best angelic acts. Just before a recent Christmas, a huge snowstorm shut down the Denver airport, threatening the Colorado Christmas plans of an Omaha family looking forward to a big family reunion. Western Nebraska was iced in; they couldn't drive. If they couldn't fly, they'd literally be out in the cold.

 

            The parents stayed on "hold" with the airline for four hours. No soap. They went to the Omaha airport, anyway, and stood in line with hundreds of other agitated, would-be travelers.

           

            They hailed a guy who appeared to be an airport employee, asking him if they were doing the right thing by standing in that line.

 

            He popped an odd little smile, and asked:

 

            "How many of you are there?"

 

            "Five."

 

            "You got any luggage?"

 

            "Nine bags."

 

            Instead of exclaiming, "NINE BAGS?!?!?" he said with a twinkle in his eye:

 

            "Come with me."

 

            WHAAAAAT?

 

            He didn't have a nametag on. All he would do is smile. Was he a real guy? Or was he . . . an angel?

 

            He fixed it so that they could get on board that plane. They were the last ones on, by the skin of their teeth. They arrived just in time to enjoy a magical, beautiful Christmas at Estes Park with all the fam.

 

            It was just . . . you know . . . WOW.

 

            The following week, the mom of this family was at a grocery store 20 miles from the Omaha airport when her son thought he spotted the guy at the airport who'd gotten them on that plane. "There's our Christmas angel, Mom! Go talk to him!"

 

            She did. He recognized her right away. "You're that family of five." He was smiling again.

 

            She told him how wonderful he was, and how much it had meant to them that they got on that plane, and had the joy of having Christmas with their family.

 

             "It's good to hear good things once in a while," was all he said, still smiling.

 

            He turned, and there was a flash of a blinding white wing . . . well, maybe.

 

            But they heard him exclaim, 'ere he wheeled his cart down the aisle:

 

            "It makes me happy that you're happy."

 

Yup. That's what angels say. †