“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” — Hebrews 13:2 KJV

‘Lord, forgive me; I had missed the opportunity.’ There he was holding the door open as people continually passed by to enter. I hurried through the door but did notice him. He was slovenly dressed and looked quite disheveled. He also looked as though he could have used a meal. A thought so brief popped into my head; ‘could this be an angel?’ I can’t explain why the thought came to me but it did. I rushed through the opened doorway-trying to beat the others into the line for service.

Lord, I did look back…how long was it before I did? Surely it could not have been more than 5 seconds…but I was already too late! He was not there.

Again, the thought came to me, inspired by the Bible: ‘could this have been an angel?’ ‘What did God say?’ ‘Something in Hebrews about entertaining angels unawares.’ ‘Could this have been an angel?’

I returned outside minutes later with bags of hot food for the family. I asked my husband, “Did you see a man standing there holding the door open?”

He said, “No, he hadn’t seen anyone holding a door open.”

I tried again. I said, “Honey, did you not see him? He held the door opened for me when I went inside. He was holding the door open for everyone. You had to have seen it!”

Again, he said, ” He hadn’t noticed anyone holding a door open.” I didn’t ask again. He “hadn’t” seen it. Perhaps, he was not paying attention. I found it hard to believe that he didn’t see it because he was standing directly across from the entryway of the place. He could not have missed it.

I will never be sure if this was a mortal or an angel that held the door open for others and me that day. He had stood there and not asked for anything. I do not even know if I said thank you as he held that door open. I think he was waiting for someone willing enough to stop and reach out to him.

Some weeks later I received another chance. This time it was a woman rummaging through a trash Dumpster outside of a restaurant. I did not wait. I went up to her and pressed something into her hand.

But I couldn’t leave…she wanted to talk…she wanted me to know that she hadn’t always been like this. She had been a “somebody” once. Although I was in a hurry, I stopped and I listened. It wasn’t so much about what she said. It was the way that she said it. She was so brokenhearted and despondent. She wanted me to know something about her as a person. By the end she was sobbing and I was practically in tears myself.

I told her that every thing would be OK. I told her that God loved her and that he would make a way for her. I didn’t know what else to say. I felt a little awkward but she didn’t seem to mind. She just wanted someone to share with. Someone to listen. The last thing that I said was to dare to believe God. I hoped she heard me as she started up those steps leading into the restaurant. I just wanted her to know that there was still hope despite her situation.

On this day, I am quite sure that this was a fellow human being that I talked to but that I may never be 100% sure of that. She was destitute and even though she was; that she had asked me for nothing. Maybe she was waiting for someone willing enough to stop and reach out to her. Thankfully, I had the good sense to stop and to do that. Just maybe she was able to reach out and catch a hold to “hope” of a better tomorrow once more. She in turn blessed me by giving me another chance to honor the thought of entertaining angels unawares.

I wasn’t just willing to stop and reach out to another soul. I DID stop and reach out. ‘Thank you God for giving me another chance.’ ‘I am so glad I did not blow it twice.’

Maria Carey, 2000 mcarey@greenwich.lib.ct.us

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