Be Angelic Today!

Today, August 22 is National Be an Angel Day. Did you know that? I didn’t. Who comes up with these designations anyway? Apparently, today is one in which we celebrate kind folks who do good deeds.

But a real angel does so much more than that. According to the Noah Webster Dictionary of 1828, the word angel means messenger or one who tells or announces. We can see God’s angels doing a lot of that in Bible—for example, when the angel tells Mary she has found favor with God and will give birth to His son, Jesus.

Angels are their own species—powerful and intelligent creatures, who deliver messages for God and perform tasks for Him, such as destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, protecting the Tree of Life in the center of the Garden of Eden, and preventing Satan from stealing the body of Moses.

While angels are depicted in art as femininely beautiful, they must be rather frightening to behold, for they nearly always start out by saying, “Don’t be afraid,” before they deliver their messages. The singing angels celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus in Bethlehem frightened the shepherds in the fields. But then the quiet, unassuming angel at the tomb following Jesus’ resurrection was mistaken for a gardener.

So technically, if we truly want to be angelic, we should share a message about God’s truth and love with someone today. My guess is most people will do something less strenuous: bake a batch of cookies for a shut-in, watch the neighbor’s children for a couple of hours, clean up litter in the park or fill a random parking meter.

What angelic task will you perform today?

An award-winning writer and frequent conference speaker, Shirley Raye Redmond is the author of three inspirational novels, PRUDENCE PURSUED, VIPER’S NEST, and AMANDA’S BEAU, as well as two dozen children’s books, including LEWIS & CLARK: A PRAIRIE DOG FOR THE PRESIDENT (Random House), which was a Children’s Book of the Month Club selection. Her book, Courageous World Changers: 50 True Stories of Women of God will be released by Harvest House in January. Touch bases at shirleyrayeredmond.com or Facebook