Bowled Over: My 3-angel Day
Angel #1
The young coed leaps from her car, arms spread wide, calling, “I want this tent!”
News of our Giant Downsizing Giveaway has reached her, secondhand. Now, she caroms amid tables laden with things we’ve used and loved—including Bill’s camera equipment. He has captured decades of travel and family history for us through his lens and unerring eye.
The young woman asks, “You’re really giving all this away?”
I’ll call her The Bright Angel (as in a kind and lovable person). Our first giveaway recipient, she’s unknown to us and becomes increasingly dear as her enthusiasm escalates.
She points to my table of artwork. “You made these? How did you do that? They’re amazing!”
Her delight over more camping gear burgeons into spontaneous twirls of gratitude: “Wow, I really really love this. Thank you!”
Angel #2
Simultaneously, our beloved friend from Seattle unexpectedly drops by. We’ve been on her mind. Knowing nothing about our giveaway, she arrives bearing a gorgeous orchid.
“Beauty that asks nothing of you,” she says.
Angel #3
Our Seattle friend and I sit indoors, catching up with each other.
Reports of The Bright Angel’s armloads of treasures reach me via Kristin, our Giveaway Angel daughter, who welcomes newcomers, draws and mounts signs, re-stages depleted displays, and replenishes goodie trays. She keeps our spirits high.
At one point Kristin relays The Bright Angel’s latest question: Do I maybe have a smallish tray—oh, and a shallow box!—for shaking and storing dice?
I rummage through my studio and produce two small vintage cigar boxes.
When I finally step outside, both boxes are gone along with a lot of other stuff The Bright Angel needed. Her taillights wink as she drives away.
I feel like the good fairy in a story, albeit incognito.
The hours effervesce, with friends hugging us and promising good homes for our treasures. All day, we give away pieces of ourselves.
Near sundown, I unplug the coffee urn, bring the leftover treats indoors.
Dreamer and Kristin replay The Bright Angel’s wide-eyed glee. “It’s really free?”
And I glimpse how the good and beautiful God may sometimes feel, watching we needy mortals bowled over, again and again, newly astonished by unexpected largesse.
When have you been bowled over by one of God’s giveaways?
