It was cold and wintry, and Margaret
Larrivee’s husband had gone to
to visit his family. He would be home soon but now Margaret looked out the
window at the freshly fallen snow, and was concerned. After his
long drive, she would have liked to greet him with a clean driveway. But due to
health problems, she was unable to shovel or lift heavy items. Now she
wondered if he would be able to get the car into the driveway, or would the
heavy snow block his entry?
In a matter of minutes of having these
thoughts, a knock sounded at the door. Margaret opened it to a young man
with a rather needy look about him. Being alone in the house, Margaret was
initially a little cautious, but almost immediately she felt an unexpected
peace.
“Could I shovel your
driveway?” the young man asked.
“Well.” Margaret’s husband
liked to do such tasks himself.
The young man shuffled, apparently a
bit embarrassed. “My check didn’t come, and I have no money to buy
food,” he told her.
Again, Margaret sensed peace, as well
as sympathy. “You go ahead,” she told him. “Just
knock when you’re finished.”
The man’s face lit up like a light
bulb, a real childlike joy, Margaret says. “And while he was
working, a joy came over me like I’ve never felt before.” She
started putting together bags of food and whatever else she thought he
needed. “Even some spiritual tracts went into the bags, as we must
feed body and soul,” Margaret says, and she laid $20 on top as payment for
his labor.
“It wasn’t long before the
expected knock came and I opened the door to a very pleased young man,”
Margaret says. “His work was the neatest I’d ever seen, pure perfection,
and when I gave him the money he thought it was too much. But when he saw
the food, tears came to his eyes and he hugged me.”
Margaret hugged him back, her
hesitation long vanished. “Be sure to read the tracts,” she
told him, “and remember that God loves you.”
She closed the door, overflowing with
joy. What a wonderful and special encounter. She thought again of
young man. Would he be able to carry all those bags? Perhaps she
should call him a taxi? She opened the door again—not a minute had yet
passed—and looked out onto her front yard and driveway.
No one was there. Although the
young man had just said goodbye, and was laden with bags, nothing remained of
their encounter but a perfectly-shoveled driveway.
Margaret was joyful for days
afterwards, which is why she believes that the young man was an angel.
“I felt like a million dollars, for when you act in obedience to God, He
gives pure joy,” she says.
Perhaps the young man came as a test,
to see if Margaret was truly willing to live the Gospel message? We’ll
never know for sure. But Paul tells us that some of the needy ones in our
society are indeed angels in disguise. Think of that the next time you
meet one of them.
© 2006 Joan Wester
– Where Angels Walk
