*This wee story looks long but it really isn’t, so hang in there. And thanks for that!

The Man and The Angel                                        By: Aliana Alani ©2016

The man and the angel were sitting on the fence drinking tea. The kind that helps you see more clearly. The man thought it was your everyday ordinary black tea. The angel knew otherwise.  They were sitting on a lovely stone fence, the kind with rocks and moss and tiny pretty flowers peeking out. It was a grand day. A day of sunlight upon green grasses. One could almost say that it was magical. Not a dark cloud in the sky.

The angel hovered in thought, picking his moment. The man waited. He could feel something coming. After all, they’d had these chats before.

“It’s a grand day.” The angel said, stating the obvious.

“Aye, it is.”

“You’re fond of grand days, are you not?”

“I am.”

“It would be a shame for that to change.” The angel threw that out gently.

The man fussed a little within. He didn’t take much to round-about conversations. “And why, for the love of God, would that change? Other than your occasional storm, that is.”

The angel let out a sigh. “The words of the world are spinning into a great tempest, my friend. Soon all the ranting and raging will erupt like an angry volcano. What will happen then will depend largely on what happens now.”

“You’re talking in riddles again.”

“Then I’ll be direct.” The angel smiled. The man nodded, though he inwardly knew it was highly probable that he was not going to like what was to be said at all at all. “You didn’t come here for this – all this fighting and fuming, this destroying of things.”

“I thought you said we came here to learn.”

“You did. But you came here to remember who you are more. Besides, do you not think you’ve learned about destruction enough?  It would seem to us that you acquired a PhD in it lifetimes ago. All you’re doing now is circling the wagons of remembering. What’s to learn in that?”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“Am I? Even if I was,” the angel sighed again, “the point is this – you’re running out of time. You must come home to your true being now. You came to this exquisite planet to participate in all of its beauty, not destroy it, so that you could open to the garden of life that exists within yourself and all creation, and in so doing, dare to dive into the deepest caverns of your own heart so that you would know, beyond question or doubt, that you, YOU, my friend, are indeed divine love incarnate.”

Your man blushed. “Aye, well I wouldn’t go that far. I’m a fair enough lover, I’ll grant you that, but…”

“You know what I’m saying.

The man nodded. “And if we dive into that deep heart? What then?”

The angel smiled. “Then you’re home – wherever you are.”

The man swirled that one around in his mind. “Will it really make a difference?”

“It will to you.”

He grinned. “And what happens to one happens to all.”

The angel looked him straight in the eye. “You could say that.”

The man thought about it for a moment, feeling the impact of the angel’s gaze, then he took a colossally deep breath and popped down off the fence, straightening his jacket as he landed, as if he was about to meet God Himself. “Right then, I’ll give it a go.” He paused, turned to the angel. “But you’d best hang around for awhile – to make sure I get it right.”

“As you wish.”

With that, they sauntered together, the man and the angel, with a glint and a laugh, into the light of the green grasses and the soft air of tomorrow today.