The Angel - A Story by Moe

"Where are your wings my son?  What have you done?"

Cold wintery weather covered her on most days.  This beautiful young woman spent most of her time wandering in the valleys searching for a place to call home; always coming close to finding somewhere to stay but never being able to really call those places her own.  She would find somewhere warm at times but would find that warmth was just not enough for her until she would eventually move on.  Traveling light with only a few but albeit important possessions; priceless trinkets handed down to her from her grandmother.  Trinkets that carried in them the keys to wisdom and strength; given to her grandmother by God.  Virtues she never sat still enough to discover on her own.  She held them tight and close to her heart....understanding their value.  Most nights the cold was too much to bear, so much so that her shiver was clear and obvious.  Obvious enough for the mountain folk to take notice of and begin plotting.

These mountain folk were shrewd thieves dressed up in Angel's clothes.  They made their way up top by tricking others into believing they were benevolent.  In truth, there was nothing in them close to anything even resembling benevolence.  These didn’t take by force but would study those in the valley for days before attempting to steal from them.  This cunning made them dangerous because you would never see them coming and when you did, it was too late.  Most would find out something was missing only after they had left and many would initially think them sent by God Himself.  They walked the right way and said all the right things by anyone's angelic standard yet there was nothing right about them.  They had all they needed and more but their greed continually drove them to steal. 

Watching her, they had all they needed to begin their work of stripping her of all she had.  They knew what she wanted because it was clear to anyone that would look at her.  She didn’t know how to conceal where she was vulnerable so they began their work.  One by one they came to her..."angels".  Some would bring her a blanket; others would just walk with her.  Each one would find an opportune moment to take something and disappear without her knowing.  Replacing what they stole with a fake.  They would always tell her they would be back with more blankets or to spend some more time with her but they only sent her messages instead.  They would only return when they saw she had more of what they wanted, making her believe they were genuine when all they were doing was slowly stripping her down to nothing.  One day, one of the mountain folk confessed all that had been happening.  He was leaving the camp for more honorable grounds and thought to "out" his friends.  He told her he was no angel and that they had been stealing her grandmothers’ trinkets...replacing them with fakes.  She was crushed but could not accept that all the ones she walked with were this way as this would mean much of what she felt was based on a lie; a truth too heavy to accept. 

Every Angel that came her way was now suspect and her heart grew colder by the day.  All that her grandmother left her was now in question because of what she had learned.  Yet in her pain and disillusionment, someone somewhere was watching...an Angel that lived on another mountain.  He had been studying the thieves for years.  He knew how they operated and helped many in the valley get their possessions back.  Seeing her, he came to love her and his gaze became fixed on her.  He was to help her get back all she lost and show her true love.  She was immediately surprised when he introduced himself because he came with blankets and a bag full of shoes.  As if to say "well, we've got a long journey ahead of us..." and for once in her journey, here's one that meant it.  Where the others had left, where the others had brought only one blanket...he came to stay.  This moved her with joy but it still wasn’t enough for her to trust him.  He looked & sounded like the thieves but where he was noticeably different...was in his steadiness towards her.  Months passed and slowly she began to regain what was stolen but still, even then, she could not come to believe this Angel was real.  So at the advice of some of the mountain folk she still believed to be genuine, she decided to test him by pulling a few feathers off of his wings at a time.  These were the mountain folk she had grown accustomed to and could not come to accept that they were not genuine.  They saw her improving, regaining all she had and wanted her new possessions.  They would make appearances from time to time.  They would send new folk to confuse and con her.  All supposedly without her Angel knowing.  What they didn’t know was that her Angel knew everything and was simply waiting to see what she would do.

More time passed and every night as instructed, she continued pulling feathers until one day he began to feel cold himself.  He noticed himself growing tired and his strength began fading at an alarming rate.  A heaviness compounded as he began to see the fullness of all she had done but his love for her kept him there.  He thought that if he loved her enough, she would see this and be compelled to change but a part of him knew this was just a fool's hope.  One day, passing in front of a mirror he couldn’t believe what he was saw.  He saw that in the place of a pair of beautiful wings there was naught but bare skin.  That is when it really hit him.  Although he loved her, he gradually began to feel his journey with her was not what he dreamt it would be.  He began to realize that maybe he loved her more than she loved him...something his heart could not handle.  He felt himself the fool but could not shake his love.  He now knew...it was time to go back home.  He had never failed to help someone before and this would be his first failure.  He said his piece spoke and decided to leave.  So off he went...wandering awhile before going back up to his mountain.  He couldn’t believe this would end this way...in failure.  As he wandered he noticed three figures in a distance.  It was her...laughing and carrying on with two of the mountain men that were advising her...only days after he had left.  He noticed them picking her pocket as she laughed but in his anger he said nothing.  What he saw made him realize she truly didn’t care and that all he had suffered with her was for nothing.  His pain and confusion was too much for him.  So when the mountain men left, he approached her to ask her why she was doing this...behaving as though they were just another phase in her life.  Something of so little importance.  Questions...she did not like at all.  She became violently angry and proceeded to pull on his wings as if to remove them to prove he was not real.  He held her back so as not to hurt her but as she pulled, she heard a crack and a tear.  Blood began to flow at the base of where she was pulling and he screamed out in agony.  To her amazement...his wings were real.  She realized it then in an instant: if he was real then it meant his love for her was just as real.  This was the first time she had come face to face with the reality of what she had done...and what she had just lost.  Yet now, when everything should have been different...she could not bring herself to believe again.  So this broken angel left to heal and finally came to the base of his mountain...

At that moment, he could perceive a strong familiar presence.  Looking up, he heard the voice of his Lord say "Where are your wings my son?  What have you done?"  Looking down somewhat sheepishly, he responded "Lord, I believe in a love that never fails.  With the power to love an enemy and with a sacrificial passion for the woman You bless me with.  For I know You have loved me this way...inside a love that looks beyond failure to hope.  With a longsuffering that can change a heart and a mind for the better...yet look at me Father as I am broken because I gave this to someone that didn’t see it...or even care.  Even now oh Lord after seeing it...she still doesn’t care.  Why has this happened to me my Lord?  How much time will it take for my wings to mend?  What will happen to her and should I even care anymore?"  The Lord spoke and lovingly said "My son...I have made you for this purpose...to love the way you do.  Although your heart will break, it will endure...it will mend.  Your walk with her was not in vain.  You showed her what it was like to be loved by me.  My love is unconditional and I will chase most down to hell and back if I must but when they reject my love...there is nothing more I can do.  As such...there is nothing more YOU can do.  This one will leave a scar but when it heals, it will be stronger and more beautiful than before...I will see to it.  Don’t worry, your blood was the proof of your love and when it's time, she will remember it and truly lament its loss because by then, it will be a loss she can now only learn from.  So go home, rest in the sun...heal by the moon. You have many more to walk with my child...don’t you ever believe that my love is too much to live out yourself and for another.  As I will always be with you...you will always be with them".  In tears and grateful for the Word of his Lord, he climbed back up to his mountain and rested as his Lord had commanded.  As for her, he left her how she wanted to be...alone with her mountain folk to fend for herself until...

There's so much more...but that is a collection of stories better served to live out than to simply tell ;-)

~Moses Apollo