Saturday, August 20, 2011

BE AN ANGEL DAY

History was made on Sunday, August 22, 1993 when thousands of people participated in a global heartlink celebrating the first annual BE AN ANGEL DAY.

Following the publication of Commune With The Angels in October, 1992 I was inspired by the angels with the message, “Do not rest on the laurels of a published book. There is additional service that needs to be done.” The message I received from the angels did not identify the service, but rather how I would begin to move towards recognizing what that service would be.

The angels must truly love reading mysteries because I have found that the assistance they give to me comes in the form of clues that they drop into my life. The clue I was given was to go to cemeteries to find and photograph angel monuments.

In the Baltimore area, near to where I live, I was able to find some very old cemeteries that had angel monuments from the 1890’s. Gifted stonecutters have sculpted incredible angelic beings from granite. As I looked into the faces of these granite angelic monuments it was as if they came to life.

I encourage you to seek out the cemeteries in your own community to see if there are similar angelic monuments waiting for you to discover them. The art seen in cemeteries is equal to the mastery found in museums.

I do not in any way consider myself a photographer, but the angels repeatedly encouraged me to go out and take photographs of these monuments. I would visit cemeteries and would be joyous over the discovery of angel monuments, which I photographed with black and white film. As I had the photographs developed I continued to inquire of Spirit, “What is this all about? What service are the angels guiding me to do that is mirrored to me in the granite figures?”

Often times we want to know what is the purpose of a particular activity in our life. Sometimes the answer is revealed to us in a holy instant. However, more times than not it is part of the journey and the activity quite simply is in preparation of the next step. So here I am in the midst of the activity of photographing angel monuments and wondering, “Why am I doing this? Where am I going with this?” And yet I felt compelled to do it.


One day I received from the angels this wonderful imagery. They said we should view ourselves as gold miners. So picture yourself having a little pan and everything that you do in your life is a sifting process. You are constantly sifting. Sometimes there’s nothing but the sifting of sand taking place and then one day you look down into your gold miner’s pan and you find a nugget right there shining back at you. The gold in the pan is that which has always been inside of you waiting to be discovered. It sometimes takes a lot of sifting and sometimes in our lives we almost throw our gold out with the dirt.

So the sifting in my life was tied in with my taking photographs of angel monuments. I am a person who loves to have focus in her life so I put myself on Angel Monument Alert – always on the lookout for angel monuments. When I would visit friends out of town, I would include them in the assignment and together we would find incredible granite monuments depicting angelic beings.

Now my curiosity grew as I sought information from the angels as to the purpose of the cemetery expeditions. In meditation I asked, “Am I going to create a book around the photographs…perhaps it will be called Angels of The Cemeteries…Guardians of The Grave. I even found a wonderful quote “Angels of the Tomb” which I thought would beautifully tie in with this book:

Immortal Hope dispels the gloom!
An angel sits beside the tomb.

This quote is by Sarah Flower Adams and comes from The Mourners Came At the Break of Day. The angels lovingly acknowledged my focus and commitment to the project and said quite simply, “Keep looking for angel monuments. Keep photographing what you find.” And so I continued my quest.

One day I visited Emmitsburg, Maryland where the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes is located. I happened to be in Emmitsburg because Mt. St. Mary’s College is the site where every Father’s Day weekend the Mid-Atlantic Region of ARE holds its yearly retreat. The shrine is only a few miles from the college and includes a beautiful grotto in a wooded area.

At the grotto I usually spend time in prayer and meditation. It is truly one of the most peaceful places on earth and I feel blessed that my home is only 45 minutes from the grotto so I am now able to visit it often. On this particular visit I came out of the grotto and realized that there is a cemetery nearby. I hadn’t even noticed the cemetery as I drove into the grotto parking lot. And more importantly I hadn’t even noticed an incredible pair of angels that graced the entrance of the grotto, standing next to the cemetery. The figures were identical - each depicted a guardian angel with a precious child by its side. The child looks up to the angel and the angel points towards heaven.

I remember taking the photograph and feeling that as I snapped the shutter I had “captured” an angelic Kodak moment. When I picked up the film at the local Ritz camera store I realized I had the missing piece of the puzzle. With this picture – which would become a poster – I was inspired with the thought to establish BE AN ANGEL DAY.

What the angels were doing by having me go to cemeteries was preparing me. They were positioning me to be on the lookout for angel monuments. The right one was going to be right in front of me…eventually…I just had to keep looking…and keep snapping. The monument at the grotto in Emmitsburg is symbolic in that the child is the inner child in each and every one of us and standing near to us – always – is our Guardian Angel pointing out for us the direction we should look for support, answers and strength – God-ward.

I want to share with you that 2012 is the 600th celebration of Joan of Arc's birthday. I truly believe, that just like the angels, Joan of Arc is inspiring each of us to be God-ward. To stay on course with God. I love her inspirational messages: "I was born to do this" and "Forward with God!"

For those of you who live in or near to Baltimore, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is doing a special performance with the 1928 Joan of Arc silent movie being shown in the background. The performances will be in March, 2012.

Getting back to the angels' inspiration to establish BE AN ANGEL DAY, I was given the date for the annual celebration of BE AN ANGEL DAY – August twenty-second.

There is a divine message in the selection of the date. August is the eighth month of the year. In numerology eight is symbolic of success, achievement and fulfillment. If you take the figure eight and rest it horizontally it creates the lemiscate – the infinity symbol. The service we send out from our hearts is a blessing to not only others but comes back to bless us as well.

The 22nd day of August was chosen because 22 is a master vibration number. It brings the message of the importance of our serving as an apprentice architect on earth alongside of God, the ultimate Master Architect. We are building a bridge according to God’s will and plan. This is a bridge that supports the message of the Lord’s Prayer: Thy Will be done; Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

Even though we are inspired by God to be blessings to each other every day of our lives, the annual celebration of BE AN ANGEL DAY serves the purpose of raising mass consciousness on earth to the awareness that we, too, are here to serve God – just like the angels.

We, too, are ministering spirits to not only the human kingdom to which we belong but to all of God’s kingdoms. This celebration is a non-denominational, non-profit event. The whole purpose of the event is to encourage people to be like the angels – messengers of God’s love and peace.

While in meditation I was given a motto that was for the first celebration and for all future celebrations of BE AN ANGEL DAY: Be An Angel. Do one small act of service for someone. Be a blessing in someone’s life.

In preparation for the 1st Annual BE AN ANGEL DAY I distributed posters, flyers and bumper stickers around the world during my travels in promoting Commune With The Angels and being a spokesperson for the Angelic Kingdom. Following the celebration on August 22, 1993 I received letters from “earth angels” who shared how they had celebrated the event. I counted 22 countries from which people had written or called me and described their celebrations, quite an interesting coincidence with 22 being the celebration date in August.

The mayors of Baltimore, Maryland and Santa Cruz, California issued citywide proclamations, as did the Governor of Maryland.

Angel services and parties were held around the world. People sent me church bulletins, press releases and party invitations they had produced promoting the theme of doing one small act of service for someone. Angel food cake was served in abundance.

The Washington Post newspaper did a huge article in their Religion Section the day prior to the first annual BE AN ANGEL DAY. The Herald Standard in Uniontown, Pennsylvania included it in their Church Briefs Section on Friday, August 20th, with a feature article about the event published a month prior.

Saint Mary’s Parish of Rutherford, New Jersey promoted it in their community by announcing it in their church bulletin. Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship-Buffalo Chapter devoted their entire newsletter to angels and promoted BE AN ANGEL DAY. Lower Saucon United Church of Christ in Hellertown, Pennsylvania chose the theme of angels for their church service on August 22nd in conjunction with BE AN ANGEL DAY and began with the words: “Be still within and without and experience the angelic wonder of God’s love for you.”

Ann Marie Acacio, Minister of Unity Center for Positive Living in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, not only promoted the event in the center’s publication, but also spoke about the event at the Sunday service.

Michelle Stelmach of Dudley, Massachusetts sent me a photograph of how she got the Polar Corporation, a local bottling company that lists public service messages on their billboard, to promote BE AN ANGEL DAY, with a mention of it on that billboard two weeks prior to the event. Thousands of commuters passed this sign twice a day, five days a week, and saw the message.

Michelle’s meditation group got together on the afternoon of BE AN ANGEL DAY and had a group meditation. Michelle received a message that there would be a special sign from the angels showing that the angels appreciated all of our efforts in serving God as helpers to each other. Before the afternoon was over, the group saw a rainbow appear in the sky even though it had not rained.

A close friend of mine, Lucky Sweeny, who lived in Columbia, Maryland at that time, organized a picnic to benefit the homeless.

An Angel Day Celebration was held at the Westside Neighborhood Center in Santa Barbara, California with speakers, angel messages, arts and crafts and all of the proceeds went to support the Information Press, which spreads God’s light.

Jenny D’Angelo in Santa Cruz, California organized the California Angelic Alliance, which sponsored an afternoon event in which participants were encouraged to come and share in the angels’ love and radiant presence.

Sister Elizabeth of The Spiritual Center in Windsor, New York shared a story with me that clearly illustrates the message of BE AN ANGEL DAY. She and another sister were organizing a dinner for some 60 people on August 22nd. They had cleaned and cooked and were feeling a bit overwhelmed. Just as they started to ask themselves how on earth were they ever going to get everything that needed to be done accomplished, two people drove up and said, “It’s BE AN ANGEL DAY, and we’re here to be your angels. How can we help you? Show us what to do.” Sister Liz called me to exclaim, “It works!”

On August 22nd I presented a five-hour workshop at the Lily Dale Assembly, a beautiful spiritual community located an hour’s drive from Buffalo, New York. More than 60 people attended, some from as far away as Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the end of the day we wrote inspirational messages and affixed them to helium balloons and released them to be delivered by the angels to whoever needed to receive them. I was inspired to organize this activity because of a feature story I had seen on television prior to the 1st Annual BE AN ANGEL DAY.

It was the story of a young child whose father had been killed in an accident. The little girl’s birthday was approaching and this small child was asking her mother and grandmother if her Daddy in heaven would remember her…perhaps with a gift from heaven…as her Daddy had never forgotten her on her birthday. The adults didn’t know how to respond to her question but were inspired to take the little girl to the father’s gravesite and have her write a note to her Daddy and affix it to a helium balloon. The little girl sent her love note to her Daddy via the helium balloon and watched it head for heaven.

There is no doubt in my mind that the balloon’s flight was directed by God’s angels. The balloon floated for thousands of miles and came down by a lake where a man was taking a walk. The man read the note and he wondered how his own children, who were very close in age to this little girl, would be impacted by his death. He went home and shared the note with his family and they were inspired to make this birthday special for this little girl. They agreed that the note had been given to them for a reason. They contacted the little girl and her family and stated that since there were no stores in heaven, the little girl’s Daddy had guided the balloon to them and they had done the birthday shopping on his behalf. Their plans were to ship the presents to the girl; however, when the media learned of this incredible story of love, the media paid for the families to meet in person.

Kenneth J. Foreman shared the following story in the Presbyterian Outlook dated May 9,1960. “In grandfather’s time there used to be a song taught to little children:

I want to be an angel
And with the angels stand;
A crown of gold upon my head
And a harp within my hand.”

Kenneth invited readers of his article to imagine standing at heaven’s gate with the officer of the day, who is asking why you want to get in. “You might come up with the words of this song ‘I Want To Be An Angel.’ And then you might have to answer one more question: What experience have you had?”

How can we be like God’s angels? One of the ways is to have the attitude that everything we do we are doing for God and to God. The attitude with which we approach the world determines the world that we are in fact going to see and experience in our own lives.

By practicing simple kindnesses towards each other we are acting as messengers of love. No matter what happens to us in our lives, the angels encourage us to promote kindness, gentleness, tenderness, and compassion. Jesus taught us by example through his kindness to the poor and to the sick, the children, the prostitutes, the tax collectors that when you see with eyes of kindness there is no such thing as selective vision.

I encourage people that as BE AN ANGEL DAY approaches each year to look around their community with “Angel Eyes” – eyes filled with God’s Light - to see where service is needed and know that God has sent you.

I recently received a letter from Kena Leek, Publicist with The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. She shared that after learning about BE AN ANGEL DAY, we was inspired to write because the Foundation and BE AN ANGEL DAY share the same values. She proposed the possibility of the two activities find ways to join forces and work together for a kinder atmosphere and more participation in BE AN ANGEL DAY. I find it so uplifting that the promotion of the God ideals of kindness and service are bringing organizations together. Her letter conveys the message of looking for ways that we could join together to be an even larger blessing to more people.

There’s a precious poem entitled ONLY SEEDS SOLD HERE whose author is unknown. It goes as follows:

In a dream I went into a shop
Behind the counter was an angel.
I asked: what do you sell here?
Everything you want, said the Angel.
Oh, I said. Is that so?
Then I would like peace on earth,
No more oppression, no more hunger,
A home for all fugitives…
Wait a minute, said the Angel,
You have misunderstood me:
We do not sell fruits here,
Only seeds….

The Angels provide us with God’s “seeds” of inspiration. I was provided the seed for BE AN ANGEL DAY. I invite you to take this opportunity to still yourself and envision yourself entering a storefront. There is an angel behind the counter. The angel smiles at you and says, “Yes! It is planting time and the package of Godseeds designated for you are right here.” You recognize that, just as for all the Johnny Appleseeds who have gone before you, it is your turn to plant seeds here on earth so that trees of life may grow abundantly. You will plant the seeds, and watch over them as they grow into the fulfillment of the dreams and visions we have for making this world a better place for all of God’s Kingdoms. You rush to open the package of Godseeds and are surprised that on every little seed your name is written. You realize that every word you speak, every action you take – all the expressions of you are seeds of energy.

A book I have read and re-read is Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees. Jean Giono’s story is a modern-day parable. I love it so much I even purchased an audio book version. It takes place in France in the 20th century and is a story of a man who replants desolate areas with trees…one acorn at a time. It’s inspirational message reminds us not to underestimate the difference to the planet we can each make.

We are evolving into a community of angels – heavenly and earthly angels existing together and serving God. I honor and acknowledge each of you for your willingness to participate as fully conscious beings. Just imagine yourself as a human computer and you have clicked the “OK,” indicating to the Divine Power that it is OK for you to experience all the changes, all the energy, and all the acceleration at 100% capacity necessary for growth. And in agreeing to do this, you have joined the divine ranks of those whom angels refer to as Grace Seeds.

St. Thomas Aquinas in writing Summa Theological in 1271 described grace as “nothing else but a certain beginning of glory in us.” Even in these times of uncertainty, know with certainty that you are beginning or seeding glory to God. You have planted yourself here on earth to bloom and to “seed” others. Flowers are identified by a genus. Your genus is known as AMAZING GRACE.

As we look around us at all the things on the planet that reflect people’s fears, pain and separation from God, we may sometimes question the reality in believing it is possible for us to evolve into Super Beings…beings that fulfill Jesus’ message, “All this and more you shall do.”

It begins with a seed identity – the consciousness and acceptance of our very beings as seeds of grace. You may be experiencing dirt in every direction you look and even be questioning if you will ever see daylight. None of this changes your identity. You are seeds of the divine.

What does it mean to be Grace Seeds? The word “grace” originates from the Latin “gratia” or favor. A favor is a helpful act or service. As seeds of grace we manifest through our individual selves God’s light, love, peace and inspiration.
As we celebrate BE AN ANGEL DAY and it’s motto: Be An Angel, I encourage you to do one small act of service for someone. Be a blessing (grace seed) to someone. A grace seed is one who serves and in doing so anchors and plants on earth God’s helpfulness made manifest in human form. I recently saw a wonderful quote on a greeting card: “How many angels are there? One that transforms your life is enough.” You may be that one angel in someone’s life. Plant yourself in life!
How can we align ourselves to the energies and vibration of grace in order to be accepting of our identities as Grace Seeds? Using the letters in the word itself I would like to offer these helpful suggestions on how to embrace our identity as grace seeds and fill our every moment with Grace.

G R A C E

G = Grateful moments. Whenever I speak to an audience I encourage audience members to take time to have an attitude of gratitude. Give thanks for all the blessings in your life. Grace is a term for a small prayer or blessing before a meal. I say grace whenever I push my shopping cart down the aisle of a grocery store. We are so blessed with abundance in our country.

People often ask me, “What can I do to be closer to my Guardian Angel?” Your angel is never closer to you than when you are kneeling in prayer giving thanks to God for all the blessings in your life.

If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of 100 people, keeping the existing human ratios the same, 80 would live in substandard housing; 70 would be unable to read; 50 would suffer malnutrition. If you have food in your refrigerator; clothes to wear; a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of the world.
I also want to encourage readers to consider the vibration of “grace” in the word gratuity. People sometimes get all tied up in determining the amount of money for tipping – is it 15% or 20%. I encourage you to consider this as a solution: Give more than is expected of you. This is the way the divine operates in our lives. God gives us so much more than we ever expected and how blessed we are because of God’s infinite love.

R = Receptive moments. Live your life open to receiving all the blessings of grace that God bestows upon us each and every moment. These are truly moments of grace we are receiving and as they form hours and days, weeks and years we are standing witness to what the angels have identified as The Grace Age. I am reminded of a time when I first was given that term by the Angels to help me with an inspiration. I needed a term to replace “NEW AGE” for there needed to be a healing around this terminology to describe this time period on earth. Whenever I was a guest on a radio program, it never failed that someone would call in and attempt to label me “NEW AGE”.

This labeling even occurred when I called an angel store located in Pennsylvania, about a half hour from my home. Several friends spoke of the store to me and mentioned that every other week there was a gathering where people shared angel stories. My friends encouraged me to call the store and offer my service in speaking as they felt I would be a blessing to the gather. I followed up on their suggestion and when I spoke to the storeowner I offered at no charge to come and be a part of their wonderful inspirational gathering. The woman said to me, “We don’t want you in our store. You’re New Age.”

I asked the Angels, “Since everything began as a God-thought, and nothing is truly ‘new’, how am I to describe this Age?” I asked for a term that I could use and this is the angelic inspiration I received: “Call it THE GRACE AGE for it will only be by the grace of God that you get through it.”

A = Amiable Moments. I would like to divide “amiable” into three words: Am I Able? Am I Able to see myself as God sees me - full of infinite potential and possibilities. Additionally, amiable means being friendly. Through grace we befriend both ourselves and act as a friend to others. Life is meant to be a user-friendly experience. I’ve recently noticed that in an attempt to heal road rage, some states are posting signs encouraging people to be Driver Friendly to each other.

C = Compassionate Moments. Compassion inspires us to commune or unite with our passion energy.

There is a beautiful Sanskrit blessing that I say so often that friends of mine got together and bought me a tee-shirt with this message imprinted: SAT CHIT ANANADA. Translated it means “Be the fullness of your bliss or joy.” Compassion originates from the Latin words “Com” meaning together and “Pati” meaning to feel.

In being compassionate we give ourselves the experience of feeling together – together with the angelic heavenly host, with God, with Jesus, with the sacred inside of each and everyone of us. If you have moments in your life when you feel far from being “together”, allow yourself to think about what experiences you have had in your life that filled you with joy. What gave you bliss? Make time and devote energy to experiencing your bliss in this life. And make time for togetherness. Spend time together with God…together with nature…together with loved ones.

I have grown to love the word TOGETHER. I feel so blessed to be serving God together with the angels. I feel so blessed to have the togetherness of my sweet husband, Charles Feldman and the togetherness of family and friends and our two Jack Russells, Pinky and Riot. It is a healing word that when used can make miracles happen. When you find yourself involved in a disagreement with someone, try the healing technique of asking, “What can we do together to come to a peaceful resolution of this problem?” Together is a word that heals like a pair of angels’ wings as it makes people feel included.

In the Book of Revelation, the angel that appears to John admonishes him when John attempts to bow down before the angel. The Angel redirects John’s worship to God, whom together we glorify and exalt as the angels do.

E = Esthetic Moments. Take time to appreciate beauty in art and nature. Every child deserves to experience the arts. Food will sustain us as humans yet it is art that inspires us to be Divine. When you make time to appreciate art, whether it is expressed as music, dance, poetry, or literature, you make time to appreciate a part of you that is the “muse” or the spirit of beauty and inspiration. You take time to experience the creator essence of yourself. And when you commune with the creator inside of you there is a potential for you to be inspired to create something beautiful in your own life that will be an inspiration to others who witness or are touched by your creativity. We are all artists and the years of our lives are canvases on which we create our realities with words, actions and deeds.

This year - Monday, August 22nd, 2011 will be the 19th celebration of BE AN ANGEL DAY. May you be inspired to be do one small act of service for someone and be a blessing in someone's life.

Love in abundance,
Jayne
www.earthangel4peace.com
earthangel4peace@aol.com

No comments:

Post a Comment