Sunday, October 5, 2008

Angel Class: Recognizing the Angels in our lives, and learning to be one.


I decided last night, at my most brilliant hour (around 11 or so at night) that this is the title of the *Enrichment Class I want to teach. Not because I am so angelic, but because I believe that everyone has it in them to be an angel for someone else, and wouldn't it be fun to discover the "angels" that people recognize in their pasts, and to learn from those experiences what we can do to meet the needs of someone in the future?
So, what would I teach at my first class? I decided that I would have three people who were coming (that sounded like a nice round number) share how someone had been an angel to them, and we could discuss what we learned. Then I would share one of my stories -- and give an assignment.
My story is a simple one from over twenty years ago. I was in college and not having a particularly cheerful day and was headed off to class. I was walking, probably with my head ducked a bit, feeling sorry for myself for one reason or another, when a cheerful voice greeted me, and a stranger smiled at me. I don't remember exactly what was said, but I remember looking back at her and smiling, and then continuing to grin in a silly fashion. Almost immediately someone passed me, caught my eye and my smile, and they smiled too. I remember wondering how far that one girls smile would travel. It was such a small thing and it made such a big difference to my day, that I have remembered it for over 20 years. By the simple method of a kind smile, and a cheerful world, my day seemed transformed.
What would the assignment be? I think, until the next angel class, that we would all be assigned to try to "create" as many smiles as possible by sharing our own smile with others. Perhaps that one girl has created a million smiles by now, just by sharing hers. Trying to get others to smile or "create" smiles is a fun and happy way to be an angel.
What angels have you found in your life? What have you learned from them? What would you teach at angel class?
*Enrichment Classes are small classes held by groups of Relief Society Sisters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They are held on many different topics and help "sisters learn and share ways to strengthen
homes, families, and individuals."

7 comments:

TisforTonya said...

I initially think of the women who do small acts of service that they don't think much of - but which mean a whole heck of a lot to the person receiving... but then there are also the angels who follow the prompting to make a brief phone call... which might cheer someone up or just delay them that few minutes which helps them remember to turn off the oven... None of us will ever know some of the times that we have acted in the angels' role - so we have to just trust in our moments of inspiration...

Marcy said...

What a great idea! I think it is important to recognize the angels in our lives.
There is a sister in my ward that I wasn't sure whether she liked me very much and I wasn't too sure of her either, at first. When I had my surgery she was the first to offer dinner and help with laundry or a drive to the store, and she lives almost 40 minutes away from me. I haven't taken her up on it, but just offering was an angel moment to me.

Anonymous said...

When we were new to the area a sister showed up on my doorstep with a loaf of homemade bread and offered to help me with my morning chores. She didn't know that nothing would get done that day if she didn't help, but the Lord did. She stayed for an hour and scrubbed what never gets scrubbed. Someday I want to be in a position where I can leave my house without the need of a babysitter to go be of service to someone in need.

Happy Mom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Happy Mom said...

It remember a Christmas Eve with three little girls, pregnant with a 4th, and all of us except Steph were sick with diagnosed type A influenza. I felt near unto death, and couldn't even crawl out of bed. Allen was a 3rd year resident, covering call for those last two weeks of December. He was home late and gone early every day. I'm not sure to this day how these sisters in my ward found out we were sick, but one gal brought us pizza for dinner on Christmas Eve, and another brought us cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas day. This was their family time, but they thought of us. Because of this, although it was a hard, droopy holiday, it's one of my fondest memories.

Megz said...

I liked that conference talk because it was fun to think of guardian angels in the spiritual sense watching out for us. But then he turned it into the reality that it is most likely going to be a live body who is doing the helping.
Wouldn't it be great if we all acted like we were everyone else's guardian angels?

LC said...

What uplifting thoughts! I also liked that angel talk in conf. (I had already forgotten it so thanks for the refresher.)

I sure didn't like being sick and pregnant last year. But, how else would I have witnessed so many angels around me. There were those that offered sincere prayers, those that brought dinners, those that didn't mind if my kids showed up at their house to play. Some cleaned my house, gave me the oranges I was craving, etc. All little things but, really HUGE things to me.

I loved your story about the simple but powerful smile. Maybe I should try to look up from my shopping cart once in a while and spread some smiles!