Am I An Angel?

There are many things I like about writing.  One of them is that I can imagine anything and write about it.  That’s the whole basis of fiction.  Someone makes something up and then writes about it.  So no idea is too fantastic, too outlandish, or too impossible.  The interesting thing about fiction is that some of it can be based on fact.  Another interesting thing is that things written as fiction could possibly occur one day.  H.G. Wells predicted things in his fictional accounts that came true a century or more later.   So what if I was given an idea, and though it seemed crazy, could possibly be true?  Here’s the idea:

            What if I were an angel? 

Now before you laugh or stop reading this blog, or before you think I’m crazy, let’s just consider the idea, even if only as fiction. 

What if I were an angel sent here by God and unbeknownst by everyone (including me) to accomplish a specific assignment or set of assignments?   And what if I didn’t know this for most of my life?  What if, during that life, I made many wrong twists and turns?  What if I failed everyone, including myself, for years?  What if I got to a place where my life seemed hopeless and pointless and worthless…and then…and then…something happened to awaken me to my Purpose? 

What is that something?  It could be anything.  It could be an accidental discovery of a need I see or a talent I have.  It could be a kind word from someone or from many people along the way.  It could be another angel in disguise helping me to see my mission.   Maybe it was the desperate culmination of all my pain and failures and disappointments welling up and spilling over into something productive and powerful, rather than destructive and hateful.   Maybe I just grew tired of not using my wings.  Maybe I needed to stop crawling and start flying.  Maybe it was a combination of all of the above.

These aren’t necessarily original ideas. They come from many books including some I have yet to read, like The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain or The Hero of a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.  It’s in thousands of movies and books.  An ordinary person wakes up one day to find he or she is a hero, something special, an angel with a mission from God, a hero with a task set before him or her. 

But here’s the thing:  that discovery is not the end of the story – it’s only the beginning.  There’s still the mission, the Purpose, the deed or deeds that need doing.  There’s still the quest, the journey, the battle, the setbacks, the defeats, and finally, the victory. 

This is not fiction.  This is life.

And maybe, just maybe, there are many other angels, too, and they just don’t realize they also have a mission.  Maybe they haven’t been woken to their own possibilities.   Maybe the mission of every angel on the planet is to wake up all the sleeping angels, while doing his or her own work. 

Is this fiction?  Fantasy?  Maybe.

Or maybe I need to Get Started and Keep Going and find out how far my wings will take me.