My sitting this morning was steeped in the Presence of the Divine, and filled with prayer. As often happens, you were there, like angels moving into my awareness, offering the opportunity to know our Oneness and our Wholeness, and to feel the Grace and Beauty of God moving through my experience.
As I complete my 60 Days of Prayer this morning, I am left with this contemplation: what does it mean to say that angels are watching over me? Often I hear people speaking of angels and a vision of John Travolta playing the archangel Michael comes to mind. (If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s worth the time.) In our culture with its Christian underpinnings, angels are otherworldly beings who live in the heavenly realm. They move between their home in the clouds and earth, looking after their chosen humans, attempting to guide and protect them from harm. Or, they are the spiritual bodies of loved ones who have made their transitions and are either remaining present on earth, or traveling back and forth, in order to bring comfort and guidance to loved ones. In my reading this morning, Psalm 91:11 said, “For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.” And I had to question …who is the he that is being spoken of, what are the angels, and what am I being protected from? Here is the translational journey that carried me through the morning. Join me if you wish.
As I look at this verse through the lens of metaphysics and mysticism, it seems that he is God, the All-That-Is, the Great Unknown, the Ground of All Being, the One. But what about the angels? I recall some of the details I have learned about the metaphysics of angels. Some see them as spiritual beings, divine messengers that have never lived a physical incarnation, that are here to protect us, although they never intervene with our free will. The Unity faith tradition defines them as “messengers of God”, or “our spiritual perceptive faculties, which ever dwell in the presence of the Father.” We might say that our angels are the thoughts, feelings, and intuition that come from our Highest Wisdom. The mystics might say that they are what is meant by the Still, Small Voice that can be heard when we are listening within for Guidance. They sometimes show up as other people, situations, events, teachers, books, songs, etc. that come at just the right time…when we are paying attention…to change our direction or bring protection from harm.
As I consider these possibilities, I notice the word order in the Psalm. It had not caught my attention before. “For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.” There is the message here that there is a Divine Order about how angels show up in our lives. My connection with, and experience of, my angels, or Highest Wisdom, is strongest when I am looking for them…when I expect them to be present and fully functioning. Spiritual Principle tells me that this is so. The Law of Expectation says that if I fully expect the Spirit within to do the work, to provide the answers, the direction, and protection, It will. The Law of Attention tells me that if I give my attention to looking for and at the blessings in my life, more will be given. And the Law of Faith assures me that, by consciously placing my faith in the All-Good Nature of God, of other people, and in the blessings present in every circumstance and condition, I will certainly see the gifts revealed in my experience. What I find in this verse is that it takes both my openness to God’s Love and Protection, and my willingness to place my faith in the infallible Nature of the Divine. It calls me to trust. And it calls me to surrender. Then, and only then, will I experience the kind of guidance and protection I am seeking…guidance through every circumstance in my life, and protection from my human mind and its tendencies toward fear, lack, and limitation. It is a sacred covenant…I must do my work, and without fail, God will do Its work. It can’t do anything else. Whatever I give my focus to becomes my prayer. Wherever my thoughts, feelings, words, and actions go, God says ‘Yes’.
The Voice of Spirit is always within me as my Higher Self, my Internal Wisdom. This Voice comes not from the thinking brain (although it may come through it), but from the Intelligence that moves through all of Creation, and is perceptible to me as a human being as I allow my thoughts to calm, my heart to open, and my intuitive sense to awaken. When I, as receiver, become a channel through which the Ever-Present Signal may flow, in full expectation that it is always available to me, the gift of Guidance and Protection is bestowed. And I graciously accept.
May we each be mindful, as we move through the day, of what we are asking God to say ‘Yes’ to.
May we all be well…stay in touch…know our unity…and thrive!
And may we know the Absolute Beauty and Wonder of this Grace-filled, once-in-a lifetime day…
