Angels helped shovel after recent snow

What a difference a week makes. Last weekend we woke up to almost a half-foot of new snow. As there was no chance of it melting on its own, we decided to shovel the white stuff off of the driveway.
I took my favorite battered shovel and began relocating snow from the sidewalk to the flowerbed. My husband followed soon afterwards with a much newer shovel and began clearing off the driveway proper. We had been at it for a few minutes when a couple of young men screeched to a halt across the street.
One of them got out, took a snow shovel out of the truck, walked over to us, and started shoveling alongside my husband. His tattooed arms showed when he pushed up his sleeves. The other guy in the truck got out and watched. Shortly, he asked for my shovel and it didn’t take very long before the driveway was clear. We thanked them profusely.
The guy handed my shovel back to me and turned to leave. I said, “Wait,” and asked their names. Nick and Johnny. Nick shook my hand and said the last thing I expected. “God bless you.” Then they were gone with a wave.
God bless you. Such a simple phrase. But in that moment I felt truly blessed. Out of nowhere two angels in a pickup truck stopped by and helped shovel our driveway. They didn’t ask if we needed or wanted help. They didn’t ask to be paid. They simply pitched in to get the job done. God bless you, indeed. God bless them.
It reminded me of my father-in-law’s angel stories where help would come out of nowhere then disappear. If you have ever wondered what angels look like, they look like two cheerful young men who ride in a pickup truck. Here on earth, they go by the names of Nick and Johnny.
Later in the afternoon I went back outside and unearthed part of the sidewalk. I finished it the next day.
Today the weather is warmer. There is no fresh snow in the area. The sun is out and the sky has a hint of blue instead of the flat white it has been. The roads are clear. I had no qualms about going out of town for groceries and birthday presents.
On the way home from shopping I saw something I had never seen before. A hawk was hovering in the sky. It looked like a giant hummingbird struggling to fly in place.
Gracefully it swooped into a nearby field, barely grazing the ground before rising with a snack clutched in its talons. It was beautiful. I counted it as one of the many blessings life bestows.
In this sense, the word “blessing” means those little unexpected things that lift the spirits and make us smile. The hawk made me happy. I remember when I couldn’t see birds in the sky. Thanks to a decent pair of contacts, I not only saw the hawk but also its lunch.
At the end of winter, it is far too easy to succumb to the doldrums. It is too easy to be grumpy and believe that the world is a scary place full of danger and evil. But as Nick, Johnny and the hawk showed me, the world is a wonderful place, filled with angels masquerading as young men. It makes me appreciate the ordinary things, like spotting a hawk, that aren’t so ordinary after all.
“God bless you,” Nick had told me. God certainly did bless me. I have been blessed in more ways than one. I pray that God blesses you, too. There are angels and blessings all around us. All we have to do is accept them.