Keep an eye out for your angels...

This poem is just too beautiful. I had to share it again:

If We Are All Unremarkable Angels  by Anna Elkins
The Remarkables, New Zealand
After a long morning of hiking and getting lost,
I walked to the pebbled edge of the lake to wash my feet.
When I looked up, a toddler with a smile of pure
and fearless joy was running up to me. He stopped
short, bent down to select a stone, and handed it to me,
his face full of a hope so bold it was a knowing--
that I'd think his gift as rich as gems. I smiled back.
Like he had bowed to choose his gift, I bowed to accept it.
I held the stone in my open palm to give it proper honor,
loving not just the give but how it came after the thought
to give. He'd approached me empty-handed, found
what he needed just when he needed it -- nothing
planned or stockpiled, as would be my way.
I said, Thank you, and put the stone in my pocket.
He ran back to his father, mother, sister.
A beauty suffused the whole family. Maybe
they were angels. Maybe we all take turns playing
angel. Maybe I did earlier, for another child
who'd come running down the mountain, crying
Can you help me? I'm lost! So we all are, so often.
And then we're found -- someone appears, leads us
back up the path or offers us a talisman of praise,
and once again, we're good enough for now.
 
Printed in the Christian Century, 2024.