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My sister says she has a guardian angel named “Sam.” Although I know you may assign me to the loony bin, I am inclined to believe it based upon the stories of her experiences with him. If you think this idea is just New Age humbug, you might read Billy Graham’s book, “Angels.” Better still, take your Bible concordance and run down all the Biblical verses about angels. You will realize that June’s “Sam” could be on a divine assignment. You will see all the ways angels serve us. Several persons who are Bible literalists have given me that look of amused tolerance when I speak of things like guardian angels and non-physical beings. All I can say is they must not read the Bibles they take so literally. Geri Larkin wrote, “What can any of us do in those moments when we can feel ourselves sliding into a situation that we know in our heart of hearts will be a mistake? Aha. This is the job of spiritual bodyguards. Maybe your spiritual bodyguard is a local monk or minister. Maybe it’s a best friend … Maybe it’s a saint, dead or alive.” Some of my spiritual bodyguards are people who have shucked the mortal coil and now live spiritually. We know the deceased can interact with us like Elijah and John the Baptist interacted with Jesus and his disciples. We see this in Jesus’ statement to the thief who died next to him, “This day you will be with me in paradise.” The “paradise” Jesus went to that day with that old thief did not keep Him from appearing to and interacting with His followers. He was in a spiritual state but His form was recognizable to His human friends. I love the Quakers way of saying they are praying for you. They call it “holding you in the Light.” That gives me a wonderful picture of spiritual Light streaming down on them. When we do this for someone we are serving as their spiritual bodyguard. The 12th chaper of Hebrews says each of us has “a great cloud of witnesses” and when you read chapter 11 you see 15 of those witnesses are specificly-named dead people. It references hundreds more. Witnesses can see. They cannot be witnesses unless they can see and hear and receive information about us. There would be no purpose in them witnessing us unless they could do something to assist us in our lives here on earth. By inference, those two chapters are telling us that those who exit our lives by way of physical death are still aware and supportive of us. We may not often be aware of them but as we develop our spiritual feelers – our intuitive powers – we can become aware of their presence. For me, this awareness sometimes comes in dreams. I can tell when a dream comes from dyspepsia and I can tell when it comes from the Divine. There is a clarity in those dreams about our spiritual bodyguards. As Geri Larkin counsels, sometimes it can be a monk or a minister or a best friend. If you want to know who your living spiritual bodyguards are you need only ask one question: When I am troubled and in need of someone to talk with, who is it among my many acquaintances that gives me clarity, insights and inspiration. Those persons are some of your spiritual bodyguards. Contemplating the great spiritual personages of all time can bring us guidance. I remain steeped in the words and spirits of great spiritual minds I have known like Jesus, Buddha, Leslie Weatherhead, Mary Baker Eddy, Norman Vincent Peale, Emmet Fox, Harry Emerson Fosdick, the Dalai Lama, Ernest Holmes, James Dillet Freeman and a dozen or so more. When you marinate your mind in their truths, it seems what you need comes to you at the right time. The old saying holds true: When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
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