NANA'S SONG
By Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Extracted from the book, I Bring You Glad Tidings by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Bestselling author Rosemary Ellen Guiley has woven a stunning tapestry of true Christmas angel stories - each one unique to the triumph of the human spirit, and a dazzling reflection of how angels work in our lives in unseen ways.

You are invited to enjoy one of the stories in the book, Nana's Song.

INTRODUCTION

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, and the story of Jesus cannot be told without angels. The messengers of God play a prominent role, from the conception of Jesus to his death and resurrection. The archangel Gabriel announces to Mary that she has been chosen to be the vessel for the Christ. When the infant Jesus is born, angels appear in the heavens and tell shepherds, "Be not afraid, for behold, I bring you glad tidings of a great joy which will come to all the people." Angels watch over and protect the family, guiding them to safety in Egypt and then back to their homeland. Angels are with Jesus in his ministry. They stand at his empty tomb and confirm his resurrection.

At Christmas time, we honor the life and ministry of Jesus and the Christ consciousness within the human soul. It is a time for glad tidings, for rejoicing, for love and for renewal. We are reminded that whatever trials we face in life, we have the strength to meet those trials and prevail.

Our thoughts naturally turn to angels at Christmas time, when songs and art celebrate them. Though angels are with us all the time, regardless of season, our encounters with them at this time of year take on a special meaning and poignancy.

Angels are real beings of awesome power and mystery. They are God's messengers, whose role is to keep us attuned to the heart of God. Through this attunement, unconditional love flows freely, and we are protected, comforted, guided and redeemed.

While not human, angels are nonetheless part of us, for all things in this great and glorious universe are interconnected. We realize the angelic link, the angelic part of ourselves, through our heart and through the Higher Self. The heart hears and knows Truth. The heart gives love and receives love. The Higher Self receives the guidance that comes from the Divine in intuition, dreams, meditation, prayer and synchronicity. The Higher Self has vision that builds faith.

An encounter with an angel is called an "angelophany." It seldom involves great winged and radiant beings. Rather, angels meet us on our own levels of acceptable perception. They may manifest as a visual impression, or an inner voice, or an external voice. They may be someone who appears to be human. They may be an invisible presence or force. They may come as a message in a dream, such as in Janie's story in this book, "Choices and Consequences." Angels also influence us through the words and actions of others. "The Greatest Gift," about the Almazan family, testifies to an experience of this type. And, angels speak to us through nature and through animals, as exemplified in Linda and Allen Anderson's winsome story, "A Christmas Gift from an 'Angel Animal' Cat."

My own interaction with angels has been in these various ways. My awareness of angels was initiated some years ago in my dreams, in which I was guided and given spiritual instruction by a glowing being I could only call an angel. These dreams eventually came to an end - such experiences serve as a wake-up call - but opened me to the presence of the angelic realm. The more I "allowed" the idea of angels, the more aware of them I became, both on the inner plane and in the exterior world. Besides angels concerned in the affairs of the human realm, I sensed and saw the glorious angelic presence that animates the world of nature.

One Christmas I was very much alone - far away from family and friends, and no one to call special in my life. The holidays are hard on you when you are alone. In an effort to find some holiday cheer, I put up a Christmas tree. Though it sparkled quite prettily, I still felt little cheer. One morning I awoke and went downstairs, and was astonished to find the Christmas tree all lit up. In the moment of my astonishment, a voice as clear as a bell said to me, "You are not alone." I was flooded with a tremendous warmth. The lights went off. I stood for a moment stunned. I had, as usual, unplugged the lights before retiring. I thought that perhaps I'd forgotten to unplug them, and that something was wrong with the wiring. On checking the plug, I saw that it was indeed out of the socket.

Had I imagined the flash of lights? The voice? I could not convince myself that I had. My heart told me otherwise. I had been given an angelic sign that I had no need to despair, that I was indeed not alone, and in fact was never alone. My present "alone-ness" was a matter of perspective - a perspective that I had the power to change. My spirits were lifted considerably, and I enjoyed the remainder of the holiday season in an optimistic frame of mind. I even cherished my solitude as a special time for contemplation. It was an important turning point in emotional healing.

The experience of the external voice is not uncommon in exceptional experiences, and is well documented in the literature of mysticism. It is called "audition": a clear and powerful voice that comes from beyond one's own self. Throughout the ages, men and women have heard through audition the voice of God and angels, usually in experiences that bring illumination and transformation.

Angels seem to have a fondness for getting our attention through light. This is not surprising, since they are beings of light who ride the brilliant emanations from the Source of All Being. Some wonderful examples of light are in this volume: in "The Miracle of the Light and the Life," the poignant story of Gary and Linda Woodward and their son, Chris, and in "Peace, Be Still," Juliet's story of comfort and healing.

Another intriguing way that angels interact with us is the "mysterious stranger" encounter. They occur when a person is in a dilemma and needs quick action. A mysterious person suddenly appears out of nowhere and provides a solution. Mysterious strangers can be male or female of any race. Most often, they are male - usually a fresh-looking, clean-cut youth. They are invariably well-dressed, polite and knowledgeable about the crisis at hand. They often are calm, but can be forceful, and they know just what to do. They speak, though sparingly. They are convincingly real as flesh-and-blood humans. However, once the problem has been solved, the mysterious strangers vanish. It is their abrupt and strange disappearance that makes people question whether they have been aided by mortals or angels. In this volume, "Lost and Found" and "The Angelic Mechanic" are examples of mysterious stranger angels.

Given their subtle and sometimes disguised methods, how do you know for certain when you've been in contact with an angel? I am asked that question often by both believers in angels and skeptics alike. The answer is surprisingly simple: no other explanation will satisfy, no matter how hard you try to find one. Our contact with the divine comes through the heart and the soul, not through the mind. The mind wants - even demands - rational, logical thought. It wants proof, statistics, and quantifiable, tangible things. The world of science was born of mind. The heart and the soul seek Truth. Truth is intangible. It cannot be held, measured or defined. Rather, it is known. To find Truth, we are led into the mystery of God. When we have touched the mystery, the heart knows.

Those who enter onto the spiritual path through devotion, prayer, meditation, contemplation, study and good works learn to trust the heart. An inner knowing arises. Truth is perceived and experienced, and no doubts cast by any skeptic can turn aside our vision.

I am also often asked if it is possible for people to become angels after death. The answer to that question is that they become like angels. All things are woven together in the wholeness of creation. The spark of God, the spark of the angelic realm, resides within each and every soul. It waits to be nourished, to grow and to blossom. Angels from heaven come to earth. Angels walk the earth in the form of human flesh. After death, when the soul is freed of physical limitations, it can express itself in many new ways, including angel-like functions. As several stories here attest, people who have lost loved ones have felt their loved ones take on the role of protective or guardian angel.

All sorts of angelophanies are described in the stories in this book, demonstrating that there are many ways to experience the grace of angels and receive a revelation from their glad tidings. For some people, the experience has drama; for others, the experience is as subtle and soft as the whispers of a breeze. But all experiences share one thing in common: transformation. For no matter how we are graced by the angelic realm, we are profoundly changed in heart, mind and soul.

Yvonne Warner, who is featured in "The Sleeping Angel," describes a miracle as "the expression of the love of God." Each and every one of these stories demonstrates a miracle. There is no such distinction as a small miracle or a big miracle. All miracles, all expressions of the love of God, are great, whether they be a rescue from danger, a healing of catastrophic illness, a turning point in sorrow, or the joy of family love.

Behind every trial described in this book is a triumph. Each story shows in its own unique way a triumph of the human spirit to overcome all adversity and to become lit with an inner fire that is the love of God.

NANA'S SONG

On Christmas Eve, Christina Gautreaux's family gathered in the home of her grandmother Nana in Los Altos, California. It was a tiny house, but the family deemed it was best to celebrate the holiday there, rather than risk moving Nana around on a winter night.

A stroke had felled Nana - whose given name was Anne - some two years earlier, when she was seventy-eight. Aunt Jeanne had found her in a helpless state in her bathroom. The stroke exacted a cruel toll upon the little woman, the proud matriarch of an Italian family, whose parents had immigrated to America from the old country. Nana was left nearly totally paralyzed, and worst of all, she was rendered speechless. Efforts with speech therapy proved futile. Nana struggled valiantly to say just the names of her family, but even that was impossible.

For more than two years, the only sound Nana could make was "na na na na na na," like her nickname. It could mean anything. If she needed something, she said, "Na na na na na." If someone made her laugh: "Na na na na na." If she was angry: "Na na na na na." Nana communicated in response to questions by using feeble facial expressions, nodding or shaking her head, and putting different tones of voice into the one syllable she could utter.

Widowed years earlier, Nana lived in her little house. After the stroke, she stayed on, aided by a helper and family members. The close-knit family did the best they could to make Nana comfortable. While awake, she was confined to a chair or a wheelchair. The garden that had flourished under her green thumb could only be gazed upon. She listened to music-there was an old-fashioned reginaphone that played metal records-and she watched television. Woe be unto the unfortunate soul who interfered with her favorite program, Lawrence Welk. Nana would give them a tongue-lashing.

And so on this Christmas Eve, the family was piled into her house. Besides Christina, who was four years old, there were her mother, Pat; her father, Bill; her sisters, Gigi and Cheryl; her brother Mike; and Aunt Jeanne and her daughter Lisa. The family enjoyed a hearty meal. Afterwards, the children plunged into a happy frenzy of opening presents. When all the gifts had been exchanged, and all the oohing and aahing had subsided, the children played with their new toys and the adults relaxed and shared stories. Nana, mute, listened and watched.

Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, Nana opened her mouth and began to sing. In a shaky, wavering and faint voice that everyone had thought was lost forever, she slowly and carefully sang her favorite Christmas carol, "Silent Night."

The room fell silent as the entire family sat spellbound. Mouths were open in astonishment. Pat and Jeanne, Nana's daughters, burst into tears. Even at the tender age of four, Christina knew something amazing was happening. She felt the room fill with emotions.

Nana sang most of the first verse to the song and then rested, quiet. Pat leaped from her chair and rushed to hug and kiss her precious mother. "How? How?" she kept crying. Nana simply nodded, as though her singing was the most normal of events. As the family erupted in joy and amazement, she radiated great happiness.

Everyone knew they had witnessed a miracle - a miracle brought by the angels. Hark, the herald angels sing at Christmas, and the angels had given the gift of voice back to Nana for one short, shining moment. But oh, what a moment!

The words to "Silent Night" were the last words that Nana ever spoke again. Four years later, her little body riddled with cancer, Nana passed into her own silent and holy night.
For Christina, the Christmas miracle was emblazoned upon her memory in vivid detail. She could not hear "Silent Night" without feeling the power of miracles flow through her. Years later, long after Nana was gone and Christina was grown, she had an angel experience that reconnected her to that strange and wondrous night in a different way.

Christina's interest in angels led her to books and stories, where she read about other people's encounters with their guardian angels. Wistfully, she wondered when she would meet hers. One night before drifting off to sleep, she prayed to God to send her angel to her that night.

She had this dream:

I walked into a room of angels. There were about eight of them. They appeared to take on a human form (no wings), but I knew they were angels. Most were women. There was one who apparently was the "head" angel. I sat down on a couch, and one by one, they came up to me, and each of them gave me a big hug. We would share kind words, though I don't remember anything that was said except for one thing. The last angel I hugged and shared kind words with, looked to the "head" angel and said "She's a lot like us." The "head" angel then said, "Of course she is."

The next thing that happened is something I will never, ever forget. I was looking straight ahead and suddenly felt as if someone were sitting to my left. I hadn't felt a movement, nor did I feel pressure. I just turned my head and right next to me was "my" angel. She had curly blonde hair and charcoal blue eyes. Rosie red chubby cheeks and a beautiful smile. Her smile warmed my heart, and the only thing I said to her was that she had "the most beautiful eyes."

Christina awoke and knew immediately that at last she had met her own angel. She called her "Cara" without knowing why. The angel had never given her name. It had come spontaneously to Christina as she lay still in bed after awakening, reveling in the dream. She saw the name against her closed eyes.

Then one day Christina came home from work and found a beautiful porcelain angel on her kitchen table. It was weathered and old, like an antique. Beside it was a note from her mother, who had stopped by and left the angel. It had belonged to Nana.

Christina remembered where it had hung in Nana's house, near the dining room table. As she gazed at the angel, she realized with a start that it looked exactly like Cara in her dream.

"Cara" means "dear" in Italian. From the depths of heaven, Nana had reached out through the angels to send a greeting of love.

To this very day, Christina cannot listen to "Silent Night" without breaking down and crying. The song speaks to her of hope, amazement and restored faith in everything miraculous and spiritual. It speaks to the inner strength that every person carries within their soul, strength to do the impossible, even for a moment.

Christina prays that someday she will sing "Silent Night" when she is as old and beautiful as Nana was, the night the angels came.

You can also contact Rosemary Ellen Guiley at: 1290 Bay Dale Drive PMB 348 Arnold, MD 21012. Email: rosemary@visionaryliving.com