TRAVERSE CITY, MI (December 23, 2004) – Editor’s note: In preparation for the Christmas observance, Covenant Communications is sharing seven devotionals that originally appeared in local church newsletters and are being published here by permission. The following comes from Cathy Lautner of West Bay Covenant Church.
By Cathy Lautner
My mom taught me a lot about angels over the years, she just didn’t know that I was paying attention.
I look back to a December day when I was in grade school – you know, the kind of day where it gets dark before suppertime. The weather had turned foul, with high winds and thick, slushy snow. My mom and sister had just returned from a shopping trip.
Mom came into the kitchen and put her glasses on the counter. She talked about an anxious moment when she lost control of the car and a semi-truck was heading her way. Then she calmly said, “There must have been a guardian angel on each bumper of the car to get us out of that one.” I envisioned four white angels with wings and long hair lifting her car to safety, and they were beautiful. Then I was on my way.
Move ahead to the early 1990s. I am no longer in Nebraska, but married and living in Michigan. It was the Christmas season once again, and dad called to say that mom had experienced a mishap, but that she was going to be alright. She had decided to put a Christmas bell on the light in the stairwell to the basement. Alone, she set up a ladder on the steps and leaned it against the wall by the light. She lost her footing and fell essentially two stories to the cement floor below and hit her head. Long story short, she took an ambulance ride to Lincoln, was stitched up, and returned home. On the phone that evening, she just laughed and said that her guardian angels were working overtime for her.
Now it is December 1996. Dad called to say he had some news about mom and it was serious. She had been slowing down for a few months without any real diagnosis of the problem, but that morning a neighbor called dad at his gas station to say that the house lights weren’t on and she was worried. Upon returning home, dad found mom unconscious in bed. The diagnosis was a serious viral infection in her lungs. One thing happened after another and mom fell into a coma and my two sisters and I were called home.
When I initially saw her in intensive care, there was a sense of shock, but I also knew that I had to do the angel thing on my own this time and I envisioned her beloved angels surrounding her. Problem was, I didn’t know if they were there to take her or heal her. But there was a sense of peace about it.
Dad was eventually asked to decide if heroic measures should be taken should an emergency arise and my vote was “No.” I told him that we just couldn’t be selfish and deny her angels if they were there to take her home. He tearfully agreed. But mom conquered this battle and returned home three months after it began.
When the time was right, I called and asked her what it was like when she was in a coma. She was reluctant to tell me, but did say that she often heard bells ringing in the distance. As for me, I just smiled . . . and knew it was the bells of the angels.
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