Angels Among Us

Drama.
Our one-year-old is becoming a king of such things.
It was our family’s turn to meet with our Bishop about thirty minutes after church meetings ended. This was pushing Little Man past his food and nap threshold.

Let the drama performance begin.
When a well-meaning older sibling moved a tissue box out of his reach, our chubby toddler threw his head back and began to wail. Not getting a reaction from anyone around him, the next step was to crumble into a pile of tears on the carpeted floor, fall onto his face, screw his eyes shut in despair and roll toward the desk.
Admittedly, his family was discreetly stifling laughter behind papers and hands.
But not Bishop.
In an act of sincere compassion, the dear man reached down and scooped up the distressed boy. Placing him in one arm and patting him on the back, Bishop said, “There, there, little guy. Whatever the problem is, we can help you fix it.”
The sobbing faded as the boy opened his eyes and took in the situation. Bishop conducted the meeting with the rest of the family while holding our son, setting the smiling boy down when he felt ready to face life without a tissue box in reach.

That afternoon, our Bishop personified the teaching, “Our stewardship over God’s creations also includes, at its pinnacle, a sacred duty to love, respect, and care for all human beings with whom we share the earth. They are sons and daughters of God, our sisters and our brothers, and their eternal happiness is the very purpose of the work of creation.”1

At this time of giving thanks, my thoughts have been filled with special people who have taken seriously this stewardship “to love, respect, and care for all human beings”.

Indeed, there are angels among us.

As taught by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “…heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind.”2

Following the example of our Bishop friend, we too can lift and love our fellow brothers and sisters.

And may we humbly rejoice when it is our turn to be the recipients of those “heavenly hugs” of service from our local mortal angels.