Two Traveling Angels
Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room. Instead, the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it.
When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem.”
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.
The
younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel, “How could you
have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him.
The second family had little
but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die.”
“Things
aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied. “When we stayed
in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that
hole in the wall. Since
the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good
fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn’t find it. Then last night as we
slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave
him the cow instead. Things aren’t always what
they seem.”
Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don’t turn out the way they should.
If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage.
You might not know it until some time later…