Ashes to Alleluias

Have you ever been touched by an angel? I think that we all have been touched
by angels in some way, even though we might not have recognized it at the
time. I have always been fascinated with angels. When I was a little girl, my
mother taught me the angel prayer: "Angel of God, my guardian dear, for
whom God's love commits me here . . ."
My mother's mother, my grandmother, was a self-taught artist with many
wonderful talents. I was always entranced with her painting of a guardian angel
watching over two small children. I followed in my grandmother's footsteps,
and I am also a self-taught artist. She always encouraged me to follow that
dream. For as long as I can remember, drawing and painting, along with other
art forms, have been an important part of my life.
A number of years ago, I started collecting angels, so I guess it was appropriate
that they would come to me in a dream that would change my life. It was in
the late summer of 2002. I had been going through some diffi cult personal
problems, and there was one incident in my life that left me in a very troubled
state of mind. One evening, after I had been asleep for several hours, I
experienced a powerful dream about angels who were watching over me. It
was so real that it woke me out of a sound sleep, and I sat bolt upright.
The effects from that dream stayed with me for several days. I decided to
write down what I was feeling while it was still fresh in my mind. As I started
to write, I realized that it was taking the form of a poem. It was as if a door
to my soul had been opened. That poem is called "Life."