Earth Angels

The other day a woman told me that her daughter was in a horrible auto accident. Tears were streaming down her face as she retold the story. When she reached the end of the story, her face lit up with gratitude as she described that an “angel” saved her daughter’s life! “An angel?” I replied. “Yes. The person who was driving in the car behind hers saw the whole accident. He immediately pulled over to help her. As it turned out, he happened to be a very kind and caring emergency room doctor!”

What an interesting coincidence – or not. As students of Kabbalah, we know that there is no such thing as an accident or a coincidence. We live in a perfect world of cause and effect. What are the chances that a kind medical professional would “happen” to be driving behind this woman’s car at the precise moment when she needed this stranger’s help most?

Divine machinations and calculations are always at work beyond the curtains of our 5 senses. Can you even imagine what kind of calculating it would take to ensure that an “angel” was there to help at the precise moment in time? I am not referring to the angels that appear in children’s stories and renaissance art. They are usually depicted as genderless souls in white robes with wings, topped with a halo. Do they really exist? Who knows?

What is truly miraculous is the existence of an angelic force manifesting in a person’s life when she or he needs it most. What difference does it make if that angel is wearing a white robe or a cutup pair of jeans, buzz cut, and a tattoo?

In the case of the kind stranger who helped the accident victim, the woman in need didn’t know who he was. She didn’t know his name. She doesn’t know who he prays to (if at all), or what his political stance is or what possessed him to get into his car and take that precise route at that precise time when it mattered most. It’s a wonderful mystery.

How many times have you been helped by a stranger who happened to show up at the right time and the right place? Have you ever stopped and thought about the incredible odds that it could happen that way – just for you?

I remember being in the hospital about to give birth. My doctor was not answering the many messages on his beeper the hospital staff were sending him. (It was the oddest thing, he later told me. For the first time in his professional career, his beeper battery went dead, and he didn’t realize it.) Meanwhile, there was a problem with the delivery. My baby just would not leave the comfort of my womb. I didn’t realize that there was a problem at first. I just noticed that there was one nurse in the delivery room. Then the number gradually increased to at least 7, then 10 medical staff were all nervously milling about. Something was going terribly wrong, and nobody was telling me anything!

Finally, a nurse informed me that my doctor was nowhere to be found, and the baby was under stress.

My baby was literally stuck in the birth canal, and the panic was steadily rising in the room – not to mention my body! I was freaking out!! At this point in my labor with my knees up against my ears, and the incredible pain I was in, I would have let the janitor deliver this kid if it would have helped!

Finally, a stranger who I had never met, this wonderful doctor, who didn’t know anything about me or my baby, “stepped up to the plate” and announced his name. He said, “My name is Dr. Michael…” I didn’t hear the rest of his speech. My intuition kicked right in. My body immediately felt his presence and relaxed. All I knew in that moment, all I saw in that moment, was the angel Michael who had just stepped into the body of this stranger who was going to save my baby. I also knew in that moment that my baby would be fine and that he would be named Michael, just like the angel who saved his life.

That magical event happened over 20 years ago, but I remember it as if it was yesterday. Angels come in all shapes and sizes and show up in the most unpredictable ways. My little angel is all grown up now and, as it turns out, is very passionate about, of all things, becoming a doctor!

May he be as kind and caring of an angel to others as the angel who saved his life and greeted him into the world.