Aquarian Age Stories for Children
Marky and the Angel
by
D. D. Arroyo
Marky sat on the porch and looked out into
the garden. He sighed deeply. It was growing dark and the flowers were nodding
gently in the evening breeze. It was like they were bending their heads politely
saying, "Good evening, Marky!" Sometimes he felt as though they really
might say something like that if they could talk. Some of them had beautiful
little mouths painted on their faces, but they never said anything - not out
loud, that is. But Marky was sure they thought things you could hear, if you
listened with your heart and not with your ears.
The fireflies winked brightly across the garden, and for a
moment Marky wished he could fly like that and shine so prettily. And then he
sighed again, this time quite sadly. Behind him be heard his mother ask,
"Why, Marky, what's the matter? Such a deep sigh for a little boy."
Marky looked up at his mother. You could always tell your
troubles to Mother. She wouldn't laugh the way Sally Ann down the street had
laughed when he talked to her this afternoon about his trouble. He tumbled his
words out, "Mother, have you ever seen an angel - an honest to goodness
real angel?"
Mother smiled. "Is that what is troubling you?"
Marky nodded, and Mother sat down beside him on the porch steps.
"Well, I'll tell you, Marky. They aren't so easy to find, and maybe you
don't look in the right place."
"Does it take awfully sharp eyes to see angels, Mother?
Maybe my eyes aren 't strong enough? Would I need glasses to see one?"
Marky asked excitedly.
Mother took Marky 's hand in hers. "Not quite that, Marky.
Angels are different from the fairies and gnomes and the little elemental folk
we've read stories about. Angels are - well, they are like older brothers and
sisters to us."
Marky shook his head puzzledly. "How?"
"It 's - well, they went through a stage of evolution
similar to our human one many ages ago. It's like your big brother, Tommy. He 's
already graduated from school, and you 're still in school. So he knows many
things you don't, and can help in many ways you haven't yet learned."
"But," Marky protested, "I'll grow fast and catch
up."
''Of course, you will," Mother replied, ''just as someday
we'll all be like the angels."
Marky smiled brightly at this thought. "Tell me more about
the angels."
Mother continued. "Well, the angels have their work to do,
the same as we do. In all of God's universe, each Being has its own part to do,
and angels have work to do especially for us. We are their younger brothers and
sometimes we are very difficult younger brothers to help, I'm afraid."
"How?" asked Marky.
"Oh," Mother answered, "once the angels were
closer to men, and many people were able to see them and receive help directly
from them. You know there are stories about it in the Bible."
"Why isn't it like that now?" Marky asked with
troubled eyes.
Mother explained, "Because men became wicked so their eyes
no longer could see the angels. They felt so grown up they no longer had pure
enough souls to commune with their angel brothers. They were more interested in
seeking excitement and fun - as they called it. They hurt each other in this
kind of fun, and the angels could not come near such wickedness. They stay away
from selfishness, and greed, and evil today, for where these things are the
heart is not pure enough to commune with angels."
Marky sighed. "What work do they do?".
Mother answered, "They have different kinds of work to do.
Some direct the fairies and the elemental kingdoms so these little creatures are
able to grow and learn. Some angels are the builders of the universe. They help
nature form mountains and rivers. They help mothers to build the tiny baby
bodies when a child is to be born. They work with the thoughts of men - and
weave the best thoughts that hover over a community so that the evil thoughts
will not bring evil upon the people. Sometimes the thoughts are so horrible it
is difficult for them."
Marky nodded understandingly. "That's why you want me to
not get mad and think good things isn't it? Do my prayers help them, too?"
Mother nodded. "Oh, yes, every one of us helps in that way
so the world can grow to be a happier place. You see, too, many evil thoughts
make droughts, famines, and floods. Nature returns to man just what man sends
out. The angels hovering near try to inspire man so he can deserve a better
life. Every good deed they bless and expand so that all men may reap the
benefit."
Marky asked, "And are there angels who work in music and in
the forests?"
"Yes," Mother answered. "They work in the ethers
in watery substances of the universe. They weave all the patterns we see,
because they are wiser and know how to obey all the laws. We humans haven't
learned obedience yet. Think of the damage we would do by our ignorance without
their help."
Marky smiled. "Do you think I'll be able to see an angel
someday, Mother - really see one?"
"Perhaps, you will be one of the blessed ones who have such
vision," Mother answered.
Marky thought a moment. It was the dearest wish of his heart to
know more about the wonderful Beings called angels.
The next day he told his father about the things Mother had told
him, and his father nodded and said: "Your mother is right. There's just
one thing I can add to what she has told you. It might help you to see an angel
some day."
Marky 's face brightened and his eyes sparkled. "What will
help me to see an angel, Daddy?"
His father answered, "Well, Marky, your mother has told you
about the being good part - trying to be like the angels so that your wishes are
like their own wishes and so your eyes will be more in tune with the light. The
other part is wanting. What you want very deeply is sometimes given to you when
you do all the rest of your part."
Marky clapped his hands. "But I do want to. All the time I
keep trying. When I work in the garden I think of the little fairies and elves
also working there, and then of the wonderful angels who are directing the
little fairies, too."
Across the room Mother smiled at them both. She had just come in
from the garden and her arms were full of flowers. "Still talking about
angels, Marky?"
Dad and Marky laughed back at Mother, and Dad said, "Yes,
and do you know I've heard people say it is sometimes easier to see them in
great and beautiful forests where the loveliness of nature is more in tune with
them than the disharmony that exists where people are unloving."
Mother said, "Marky, has Daddy told you about where we are
going on his vacation?"
Dad said, "No, I wanted you to be with us. You see, Marky,
your mother and I thought that perhaps on this vacation we would go camping in
one of the national forests near here."
Marky spoke softly, "And I can really look for an angel
there, can't I?''
Mother and Dad nodded, and they kissed Marky tenderly as he
started off to bed to dream of his vacation in the forest where he could see an
angel.
And Marky's dream did come true. Marky was in the forest where
the family was camping. He had been having a splendid time sitting so quietly
under a tall elm tree that the young deer had come close by. His heart was full
of love for the beautiful little creatures as he offered them pieces of bread
from his pockets.
His heart was full with happiness and peace, and while he sat
there a wonderful thing happened. As he looked up at the tree he saw long
flowing sheaths of light brightened into the pattern of an angelic figure before
his eyes. The forest was still and yet there seemed to be the swell of music
everywhere about him. He felt great waves of love washing through him, and a
beautiful face smiled upon him.
Marky felt as though all the love and light and goodness in the
world were pouring through him. He saw the sweet face still regarding him from
the great height, and then the light was so bright he had to close his eyes.
Even with his eyes closed he still felt the music and love and brightness all
about him.
When he opened his eyes, Mother and Dad stood beside him. Their
hands rested lightly upon his shoulders. He looked up at them inquiringly. They
smiled down upon him, and he knew from the glow in their eyes that they had seen
the angel, too.
Marky asked softly, "Some day will I be like that?"
It was Mother who answered, "Some day all of us will be
like that, Marky, and the world will be a very wonderful place when we all are
so beautiful and loving."