Do you ever wonder how much of our lives angels can see? Specifically, angels we once knew? Sometimes I find myself alone in my room with my thoughts. And then I wonder if there is an angel looking over my shoulder at what I am typing, reading, watching. Or maybe accessing my innermost thoughts without my awareness. I wonder if there are different ranks of access to our lives that God gives the angels. I get a vision of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come showing Scrooge all the families he offended. Perhaps that is the extent to which they can observe but not interact. And there are times when I lose something and am frantically searching for it, and it turns up in one of the places I could have sworn I’d already looked. And I think to myself, maybe an angel felt bad for me and placed it there. 

As I gain more angels over the years, I try to hold myself to a higher standard. I know that God sees everything and knows my thoughts. But there is something different about an angel you once knew, someone who was once here on earth now with an aerial view of your life they were once unaware of. It puts pressure on you to try harder, to be better. 

Maybe the angels don’t hold us up to a higher standard. Maybe they don’t have it all figured out yet, either. Maybe they just yearn to give us the clues that they can to make our lives a bit easier. Especially the guardian angels. The ones that salvage my phone and myself when my klutzy side takes advantage of my coordination. The ones that whisper consoling words in my moments of worry and doubt. The ones that celebrate the little victories with me when no one else does. 

What about the angels on earth in physical form? The ones who enter our lives unexpectedly and bless us abundantly? If we are angels on earth, how do we know? 

I am thankful for the bliss found in ignorance at times, because perhaps knowing the answers to all these questions could be frightening, intimidating, even. Until I get another clue or nudge in the right direction, I will keep living the best way I know how. And thank God for the angels.