We’re very close to the celebration of the most anticipated event of the year in the Christian world. We’re preparing ourselves to remember again and again the same old story, hoping to be surprised like it’s the first time we ever heard it. For about a month, we become like little children, creating a fairyland decorated with trees, stars, presents, carols, lights, and of course, lots of angels… It’s like we want to feel a different reality, hoping to be transported into it. We’re reading again the Biblical stories of Nativity and our minds dream of the miraculous events around the birth of our Saviour.
There are moments in our lives when we are caught off-guard by unexpected actions or circumstances – those moments that cannot be explained, but deeply anchored in reality.
I had such moment this summer and it had no connection with Christmas. But now, all the angels decorating our homes and our cities during this season, reminds me of it and a picture I took by mistake. It was during the Summer Children’s Club we had at our church and I was taking a lot of photos during the event. One day, while I was downloading them into my computer, I noticed the picture above. Strange… I didn’t remember taking it. I suppose it was an accidental shot, but it made me stop for awhile… the coincidence was too great. My mind started to make connections, refusing to accept that it was just a wrong exposure issue and an accidental push of a button. It was looking for another explanation…
We cannot see the spiritual reality, but sometimes we can feel it. More than that, what if God put in our minds a special sense that detects it?
After finding that picture, I started to see things differently. For the rest of that week, I asked myself: What if… we are surrounded by angels? How should I relate to these innocent kids knowing that maybe they are some kind of “angels”? Working with children is sometimes like browsing a photo album. Faces come and go. That picture reminded me that we need to stop and realise the responsibility and honour we have by serving those “angels.” Definitely, the children around us have something special that determined Jesus to say that “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” What is that something? Maybe their ability to wonder? Or their curiosity… their total abandoning to God… their teachability, their fear and respect…? We have a lot to learn from them.
So, for the next year, what if… we start looking beyond our human reality and let His Holy Spirit give us a glimpse of another world, even for short moments like in the flash of a camera?
