An Angel on my Desk

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

Last year was the first Advent and Christmas season that the United Methodist Foundation (where I work) spent in our new office space.  We enjoyed decorating the space and planning for an Open House to welcome people into our space for cookies and tours.  Along with the Christmas tree, wreaths, and greenery, I set up a small nativity scene on a bookshelf.  It was in a conference room - the open house came and went, and I forgot about the nativity.  One day in January I noticed it and packet it up to take it back home.

A few weeks later when we were setting up for a meeting, I noticed that I had missed the packing away the angel. I sat her on my desk, meaning to take her home so that she could join the rest of her set.  But I forgot, and then I started to enjoy having her below my monitor, so I left her there.

And then, in February, we started hearing about a novel coronavirus.  By the middle of March, we were eating lunch in the office instead of going to restaurants.  By later March, we were working from home.  The world had begun to change.  We stopped traveling and started wearing masks.  We worshiped in our living room with our cat and didn't get to see Josh graduate from the University of Alabama.  

We did eventually return to our office, but there are no longer large meetings in the conference rooms.  We meet with each other via Zoom, and when we are together, we stay apart and wear our masks.

And an angel sits on my desk.  She is now a reminder that even when the world changes, God will quiet us with his love.  Even when we feel lost, God will find and save us.  Even when we cannot sing together, God is singing over us. 

An angel is sitting on my desk, and she will stay there to remind me that God is with us.