Story: Annie and the Angels

Dearest Annie,

I’m so glad you are going so well. I have your recording of wishing me a happy New Year on my phone – and I don’t want to erase it until I can listen to your enthusiasm a few more times.

I am blessed to have gotten to know you – and wish we had gone to Harry’s more often while you were living in the village. You are such a special person, and I have you in my prayers. I do hope the new year brings you great and generous blessings.

Here’s a story you might enjoy.

“A Picnic In The Forest.”

Annie was alone in the woods enjoying the sun coming through the treetops. This was her favorite spot to relax and listen to the trees and all those who live beneath the leaves on the ground. It was a warm day, but there was a cool breeze coming up from the ocean just a quarter mile away. Not only could she hear the forest, the waves were a lovely addition to the day’s natural music. As she meditated on her beautiful life she listened even more carefully and if she listened really well, she thought she could hear angels.

She knew her guardian angel had been with her all her life, guiding her through good and bad times. Sometimes she felt a flutter on her ear…the angel was nearby. Her dreams often filled with a glorious light, and nothing on earth could outshine the brightness of this heavenly scene. She dreamt of the forest and saw herself dancing freely around the trees and through the brambles, and felt at times as if she were flying and not touching the ground, her steps were so soft.

The angels are surrounded by music, she believed, because singing and music were often in her dreams. And the day she was enjoying her special time alone, she listened and remembered the music of her dreams, blending with the many soft voices of nature surrounding her.

She had a picnic lunch with her and was waiting for her grandchildren, Lorenzo and Samantha Jane, to join her after they helped their mommy and daddy clean the house (especially their bedrooms!). Annie had a basketful of her favorite foods, and was looking forward to sharing her treats with her young friends. There was bread and cheese, grapes and tangerines, orange juice and water, and a dozen other things – figs, raisins, dates, almonds – that it would take a page just to list them all. Ah, but Annie thought the best of everything were the chocolate brownies she had baked that morning. She knew how much her friends enjoyed those chocolaty treats.

Lorenzo came running up first and through his arms around Annie, almost knocking her over because she was sitting down and Lorenzo was getting so big. They laughed and Annie looked over Lorenzo’s shoulder to see lovely Samantha Jane bringing something in a basket.

“We picked these for you for our picnic,” she said as she set the basket of wild flowers on the picnic blanket. “We found so many flowers, but we didn’t want to take too much time because we didn’t want to be late. We know how you worry so, but here we are:”

“Yes, here we are,” shouted Lorenzo as he peeked into the basket of food that Annie had prepared. So Annie began taking items out of the basket and putting them on the blanket, and Lorenzo was eager to help. Every time something new was taken out, Lorenzo said “I love cheddar cheese. I love bread. I love grapes.” He said it about everything that Annie had in her basket.

“Thank you so much for the picnic, Annie,” said Samantha Jane. “We were looking forward to this all week. I was especially looking forward to your chocolate brownies. But…ummm…I didn’t hear Lorenzo say anything about brownies.”

“Oh, yes, I brought them,” said Annie. “But we really need to leave them in the basket for now. You know how much we three love brownies so much. I’m afraid we wouldn’t want any other food!”

“Let’s eat now so we can have brownies sooner,” said Lorenzo.

Everyone laughed because Lorenzo was saying what Annie and Samantha Jane wanted, too!

After their delicious party, the children were ready to hear Annie tell them a story.

“I don’t have a story today, but I do have something wonderful to share,” said Annie. “But we have to be very quiet for just a minute before I can begin. And while we’re quiet, listen to all the other sounds around you.”

“Do we need to close our eyes?” asked Lorenzo.

“No, but it can help you listen more carefully,” said Annie.

So Annie, Samantha Jane and Lorenzo sat as quiet as they could and listened to the sounds around them. After a little bit, Annie asked them what they heard.

“I heard my stomach gurgling,” said Lorenzo.

What else?

“I heard the birds far away above in the trees,” said Samantha Jane.

“I heard a cricket and heard something moving next to me,” Lorenzo said. “It sounded like a little mouse.”

“I could hear the ocean from here,” said Annie. “Unless I’m really quiet I forget that the ocean is so close to us.”

“There was a buzzing around me and I think it was a fly,” said Lorenzo.

Annie was pleased with how carefully the children listened to everything around them.

“Now we are going to close our eyes and then share what we heard. Yes, you can lie down if you’d like.”

And Lorenzo and Samantha Jane laid down on the blanket, glad that there was something soft between them and the crinkly leaves.

“Try to hear the ocean,” Annie suggested. There was a long pause and then she said, “Listen to the trees blowing gently in the wind.” Another pause.

“It is so quiet here,” said Samantha Jane. “It’s almost as if the quiet had a noise of its own.”

It is important to take time to listen, they all agreed.

After a few more minutes Annie said they could sit up.

But both of them had fallen asleep!

“Well, well, I can’t blame them,” said Annie as she put her head back (after moving a bowl that she would have put her head in. Yuck) Very soon she was also asleep.

And as they slept, they were unaware of the majestic angels who stood nearby. Each of them were guardian angels who stay with them every minute of their lives, even when people are asleep.

“You know, I think they have a good idea. I’m a little tired myself,” said Annie’s angel. The other two nodded their heads, yawned, and lay down for a nap with their beautiful friends.

They had a blissful rest, surrounded by God’s creation. While they were sleeping (trying not to snore) they heard the music that surrounds them every day, and in their dreams began singing. When the looked around, they saw the three angels singing, too.

Everyone was very happy, indeed.

When Lorenzo woke up, he looked in the brownie box. “I think my angel just took a brownie!”

The End