July 29th, 2020

I wasn't having the best of days yesterday. It was just one of those days. Then I came home and I'd received a box in the mail from a dear friend. I opened the box. Inside there were two pairs of used shoes she wanted to donate to Soles4Souls.

And there was a card.

The card said many kind things. But these words are the ones that moved me: "I am so proud to call you my friend for many reasons...."

What is it about two pairs of shoes and a simple sentence that can turn a day around - that can completely fill a heart with something that seemed so inescapably missing just seconds earlier.

I responded to my friend with a message. I said:

Only God could arrange the delivery of shoes from just the right person with a card that said just the right words on just the right day and time. More often than you know you come through in my life like an angel.

I've been thinking about that this morning - angels. I looked up the definition of an angel this morning. I loved this one:

A person who performs a mission of God or acts as if sent by God.

By that definition, I believe we were all created to be angels.

Consider these words from Paul Tripp -

We weren't created to be independent, autonomous, or self-sufficient. We were made to live in a humble, worshipful, and loving dependency upon God and in a loving and humble interdependency with others.

Myself, reflecting on those words, I'm wondering if God doesn't want me to be so humbly dependent on him so that I can fully know how humbly dependent I am on others. I'm wondering if God doesn't allow me to be instinctively overcome with joy at the words "I am so proud to call you my friend" so I'd for a moment feel how God feels when I tell him "I am so proud to call you my God."

In fact, just in case God feels anything like I felt reading that card yesterday, I started my morning prayer with just those words this morning - God, I am so proud to call you my God.

Times are tough we are living in. People are facing challenges in their lives that may look different from each others' challenges, but I believe more people than ever are experiencing challenges at the exact same time. I think maybe we are all looking for angels.

But maybe we're going to stay stuck in these challenges if we keep looking around for angels. Maybe the way out is focusing on being an angel.

Because I do believe, we were all created to be angels. We don't need wings and robes and white heavenly glows. Sometimes all it takes is a couple of pair of used shoes and a card.

Sometimes all it takes is a love so dependent on God that we can't help but know others are depending on our love.