Novice Angel by Eileen Padmore

'What was that all about?' asked the exhausted new angel.  She had tried her best to follow the others but it happened so fast.  One moment they were floating in the heavenlies, then the rapid descent into chaos.  No time to catch breath as they wooshed downwards with terrifying accelaration on collision course for that moth ball of a planet.

Then quicker than the eye could blink they stopped, suspended over a dark field where a few tattered peasants huddled together with dozy sheep.  Why so frightened?  What could be more ordinary than a battalion of angels?  But those sad bundles of humanity, dressed in filthy rags bound with string and patches, shielded their eyes in terror.

Angelica wished she was back in heaven.  Down here it was cold, menacing, unsafe.  Fear gripped her with dark, squirmy tentacles.  Araton, their leader, shivered as he felt it too – but his voice cut through the thick blackness in a sparkling stream of sound.

'Don't be afraid!  We bring news of great joy for all people.  Tonight in Bethlehem a Saviour has been born.  You will find him asleep in a cattle feeding trough.  Hurry – go worship him!'

With that the company of angels pulsed and shimmered on top power as they sang a beautiful celestial anthem: then the flight back to heaven at an even more dizzying speed.

'But I don't understand', wailed Anelica as they touched down on the warm golden pavements of home.  'The Holy One of Radiant Light is still here in Paradise.  How can he be born in a shed fit only for unclean animals?'

It was unusual for her to speak out like this but she was distressed.

Araton looked down on her with pity.  He remembered how uncomfortable it was to be a novice.

'This was planned from the beginning,' he explained.  'They took a wrong path and will never find the way out.  The Shining One has sent his precious son to save them.'

'But how can a baby do that?'

Araton looked into the distance, his face sad with reflected
suffering.

'The baby will grow up, teach the way of truth and heal their diseases.  A few will listen but the rest will torture and kill him.'

'Then why not leave them to perish?  Do they deserve to be rescued?'

'No, but He loves them.  That is why.  And there is no other way.  It was written in the beginning at the time of the Great Fall.  Only the Lamb of God can defeat the evil one.'

Good and evil ........ mused the fragile novice angel.  She had experienced an intense chasm of blackness down there.  How could any prefer darkness to light?  What a mystery ......

But wait!  Listen ........  voices were calling her..... from the distant pleasure gardens of Paradise.  Angelica responded on sturdy wings, sadness left behind as she joined her novice friends in the heady exhilaration of joyful play. 




Eileen Padmore has retired from a life spent in health care and academia, having worked in Sierra Leone, Zambia, Eire and Northern Ireland (in the troubles) as well as inner city Birmingham and Leeds.  She has had articles published in Woman Alive, Christian Writer and contributed to the popular ACW Lent Book.  Last November she claimed NaNo 2018 winner at first attempt.  Married to a professional musician, the family includes a feisty springer spaniel and a large African tortoise.