TO OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY...OUR ANGELS

I once met an angel,
Who couldn't even fly.
She didn't have a halo,
Or come down from the sky.

She helped me oh so sweetly,
And hoped for nothing in return.
She showed me so much love,
And on that day she helped me learn:

Angels need not wear wings,
Or come from heaven above.
Angels are those who help us,
And show us Christlike love.

Thanks for being an angel ,
And for me being there.
Thank you for your friendship,
And showing that you care!

I wrote this poem after having an interesting conversation with a very sweet friend. We were talking about how we all have angels in our lives who aren't necessarily immortal. She told me of a story of angels in her life and she explained that every time that it snows she has angels come and shovel her snow. She lives alone and has angel neighbors who come over and shovel her snow from her driveway. She told me that when she was the singing time teacher in primary, she once told her primary kids that she had angels visit her house that morning. When kids light up with excitement, she explained that they were her neighbors and they were angels because they had just decided to shovel her driveway without even asking her or telling her that they wanted to do it. They simply preformed this great act of kindness with no expectation of getting some kind of compensation. My dear friend explained to the primary children that they too could be angels and give anonymous service to others. They were excited to hear this. Every snowy Sunday after this day, the children would ask if she had angels visit her house that day and she would answer with a bright smile, "yes".

After having this conversation with my sweet friend, I realized that she was right; we have angels come into our lives all of the time. The Lord blesses us with tender mercies of sending us people who help us right when we really need them. The Lord knows what our needs are and blesses us accordingly. Just as the Lord blesses us with angels in our lives, we too must allow Him to make us into angels for other people. Thank you to all of those who act as angels in my life.


'My beloved brothers and sisters, I testify of angels, both the heavenly and the mortal kind. In doing so I am testifying that God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face. “[N]or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man [or woman or child] upon the face thereof to be saved.” On occasions, global or personal, we may feel we are distanced from God, shut out from heaven, lost, alone in dark and dreary places. Often enough that distress can be of our own making, but even then the Father of us all is watching and assisting. And always there are those angels who come and go all around us, seen and unseen, known and unknown, mortal and immortal.

May we all believe more readily in, and have more gratitude for, the Lord’s promise as contained in one of President Monson’s favorite scriptures: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, … my Spirit shall be in your [heart], and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” In the process of praying for those angels to attend us, may we all try to be a little more angelic ourselves—with a kind word, a strong arm, a declaration of faith and “the covenant wherewith [we] have covenanted.”'
-Jeffrey R. Holland