Recently, our 8-year-old granddaughter Leah showed me her latest literary accomplishment. It was an illustrated article about an angel being sent by God on a special mission. This captured my attention, and I took a serious look at the drawing of the angel on the first page. The angel had one eye‹the other eye was missing. I asked Leah in amazement: "Where is the other eye?" Leah¹s answer was even more amazing. "The angel is winking," she said; "that¹s why you cannot see it."

I do not know if Leah has actually seen an angel. I must confess, however, that despite my age and my profession, I have never seen an angel in all my seventy-one years - even in my dreams. I do not know whether angels wink or not. I will be terrified if I ever see an angel - as did Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist while he was burning incense in the holy of holies of the Temple. I would be wondering if I were dead or still alive. The Devil and evil spirits would be even more terrifying, because they are inherently evil and mischievous. I have not encountered them either, although I have come very close to seeing them personified in some people I am not particularly fond of.

Angels are generally good and benevolent. They are said to be special messengers and agents of God. They are the bearers of good news, guardians of the innocent and the powerless, executors of justice, and comforters of the grieving. Sometimes, as depicted in the Book of Revelation, angels pour out God¹s anger by plagues, calamities, destruction and death.

Although some angels have masculine names, they seem to be gender neutral. This eliminates a major factor of immoral behavior. Angels also survive without food‹another problem we humans face daily. Actually, angels are not tempted as we are. They live in heaven in the presence of God most of the time. They have no needs or desires. They do not procreate. They have no worries or anxieties. Eternal life is guaranteed. They defy the laws of nature to carry out the Lord¹s commands. What a blessed existence! I wish I were an angel, even a winking or a blinking one!

Or, do I? When I think about it, I secretly thank God (let angels not hear it) that I am not an angel. I¹d rather be a vulnerable human being, subject to temptations of the flesh and the spirit, than an angel who has no other choice than to be good and to do the will of God. I do not know what models God used in creating angels; but I am glad God used himself as the model when he created me in his own image and likeness. Like God, I can decide for myself. I can choose to be good. I can opt for a divine birth that endorses my divine creation. I can be a child of God which no angel can ever be.

Aren¹t you glad you are not an angel? Aren¹t you thrilled that you are a child of God?