Messages from Angels – Angels for Breakfast: Nourishment at Whole Foods

Note: One of my favorite parts of my spiritual job description is when I am asked to be a messenger for benevolent angelic forces. 

I often receive messages for people whose angels or spiritual guardians ask me to communicate when it is a matter of urgency or they are having a hard time getting through to their human counterparts. Many of these people are strangers to me and our interactions last only moments. These messages can be warnings of illness or accident.  They can also be intended to clarify or give direction. Whatever they are, I play my role as messenger faithfully

 (story is continued from previous post … click here for post 1)

Yeah,” the man with the crutch replied politely when I asked him if he was looking for breakfast, “I was going to get some but they don’t have any sausage.”  His eyes were clear.  I had half-expected his breath to smell like alcohol but it too was clean. 

I glanced at the steaming trays of breakfast food.  They had large metal spoons or plastic tongs sticking out of them and were shielded partially behind plexi-glass.  There was no sausage.  “Oh, okay,” I said awkwardly. At a loss for words, I walked away.

I returned to the pie section feeling ridiculous.  I needed clearer instructions.  I searched among the berry, strawberry-rhubarb and apple pies in hopes of finding peach. 

The voice came again, more strongly.  “Go talk to him and buy him breakfast!”

I turned back to look at the man.  I glimpsed his yellow jacket bobbing through the silver lines of the buffet.  He had moved on from the eggs and was now wandering near the trays of breakfast burritos, macaroni & cheese, turkey pot pie and other comfort food.  Once again, I heeded the voice of Angels.  I walked toward him, only to stop short on the other side of the buffet.  I felt self-conscious, and even presumptuous.  Social graces caution against pointing out someone’s suffering – as if we are somehow required to save face while remaining unassisted, unhealed and untouched.

I turned and walked back to the pie.  There was no peach to be found.  In the smaller, personal pies I had two options – a mini apple or berry pie – for $4.99 each.

“Go talk to him and buy him breakfast!”  The angelic voice came again, sounding clear and definitive.  I could see the words forming over my head and settling down on my back like a hand guiding me in the right direction.

I turned around again to look at the man.  He was still wandering near the turkey pot pie.  I hesitated.  It hurt me to look at him there, hungry and with so much restraint – after all, he did not steal, or pilfer bits of food from the trays.  I turned back to the pie I wasn’t even sure I wanted.  The next option was half a strawberry-rhubarb pie for $7.99.  I didn’t need that much pie!

The voice came again.  This time it shouted.  “Talk to him and buy him breakfast!”  The words came in golden capital letters with several exclamations points following.  They boomed out of the air above me and cascaded down around my head, reverberating loudly like cymbals.  The command blocked out all other sounds.  It cancelled out all other considerations.  I cringed and ducked slightly.  Experience has taught me that when Angels get this vociferous it is better not to argue!

I knew I had to overcome my resistance and approach that down-on-his-luck man.  “What if he says, ‘no,’” I fretted, “I am under orders to buy him breakfast!”

I walked over to the man.  “I’m sorry to bother you again,” I said.  I paused and then blurted out, “I think I need to buy you breakfast!”  I wanted to say more.  I wanted to explain....

(for more, see next post)

Messages from Angels – Angels for Breakfast: Nourishment at Whole Foods

Note: One of my favorite parts of my spiritual job description is when I am asked to be a messenger for benevolent angelic forces. I often receive messages for people whose angels or spiritual guardians ask me to communicate when it is a matter of urgency or they are having a hard time getting through to their human counterparts. Many of these people are strangers to me and our interactions last only moments. These messages can be warnings of illness or accident.  They can also be intended to clarify or give direction. Whatever they are, I play my role as messenger faithfully

At the Whole Foods grocery he leaned on a single crutch and peered into two stainless steel buffet trays -- one full of scrambled eggs and another full of bacon.  He and I seemed to be asking the same question of ourselves, “What, if anything, to eat?”

Yesterday morning, at this same Whole Foods, I had opted for eggs but by the time I had stood in line at the cash register to pay for them, they had cooled into an expensive and unappetizing yellow lump.  I would not make the same mistake this morning.  I walked past the eggs and the man on the crutch, toward the baked goods. 

Actually, I did not even want to be in the store.  I was not sure why I was there, given that I was not hungry and I was running late for the last day of a shamanic dreaming workshop in which I was enrolled.  In fact, before leaving the house that morning I had decided to skip breakfast altogether.  The workshop was exacting and although I was enjoying it, I wanted to slow down and stop rushing, even if it meant missing a meal.

Thus, you can imagine my surprise when I found myself pulling into the parking lot of Whole Foods, getting out of the car and entering the store through automatic sliding glass doors.  “Well, I’m in the store,” I reasoned, “I might as well look for something to tide me over until lunch.”

Now here I was in the baked good section, looking at apple, strawberry-rhubarb and mixed-berry pie.  I looked from the pie back toward the man.  He wore a grubby yellow windbreaker and jeans.  He carried a back pack.  Even his stocking cap was soiled.  His beard and the skin on his face and hands were smeared with dirt.  I turned back to the pie.

“Go talk to him,” the voice of an Angel said.

I turned and looked more closely at the man, thinking as I did that he must be homeless.  He leaned into the food as if calculating how much it would cost to feed himself this one hot meal.  Then the Angels showed me something.  Within my own body, I could feel his hunger -- and not just the hunger for food.  There was also a hunger that many in difficult situations experience – the hunger for laughter, peace, safety, cleanliness, community, beauty, reassurance and release from the strain of desperation.

Though I felt for him, I will admit that the command, “go talk to him,” felt rather general. I did not know what to say and I did not want to embarrass myself, so I stalled, suddenly shy.  Even though I knew it was not true, I justified my reticence by telling myself that anyone in immediate need would not even be in an upscale store like Whole Foods and that my help was not really needed. 

The voice came again.  “Go talk to him.”

Not knowing what to say, I walked back to the buffet and up to the man.  When I got there I improvised and said, “Are you looking for breakfast?”


(for more see next post)

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