Many years ago I had a dear friend whose lifetime hobby was to make angels out of white thread. Each angel was similar in that they had a halo, wings and a cone shaped body. After she finished knitting them they were starched over a form so that they never changed in shape and could be hung as a Christmas tree ornament or placed to stand on a flat surface without toppling over.
Mamie would give these angels to everyone she came to know. Inside of the presentation box she would include a piece of paper with the the words of Psalm 91:9-12 printed on it. 9 If you make the Most High your dwelling-- even the LORD, who is my refuge-- 10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, ..."
As a young pastor I received one of these angels from Mamie. When I learned of her mission and hobby I asked her how it was that she got started with her favorite passtime. She responded with a story about how when she was a young woman she had had a baby without being married. She told how ashamed she had felt, and how she was encouraged to place her son for adoption. At that time she related how noone was allowed to know where her baby ended up, who its adopted parents might be, and she was not allowed to have any contact with him. So she decided, after reading the psalm passage above to keep him in her prayers and memory by knitting these little angels and then giving them away.
I asked further why she always used white thread. She said that it was because all the holy angels were confirmed in their bliss as they served those who were the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. As heirs of eternal life those little ones were covered by the robe of Christ's righteousness and had white robes.Then her voice changed, it qivered with emotion, and she spoke very quietly, "Pastor, before they took my baby away from me, I baptised him with the water from the drinking glass in my hospital room." I know I will see him again. I buried Mamie, and to the best of my knowledge she never learned any fuurther details about her son.
White is usually thought of as the color of holiness and purity. We all have an angel who is present with us by God's command. Sometimes, however, it seems that we might compromise our faith by saying or doing things that we know we should not do. Then, I wonder, do we soil the image of God's special ministering spirit? I think not because all those good angels are holy and they are confirmed in their happiness as the Lord has made them. Like Mamie's memorial angels they are always white.
More on angels next time. I want to write about their numbers, and their activities as described in the Bible.
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