God's Angel - by Radhika Devidas

Father Dennis looked on as he saw little Eliza run away crying from the chapel where the auditions for the weekly church play was being conducted. He knew Eliza from her toddler days as her parents were church regulars, and they always brought her along. Father Dennis knew Eliza’s father to be a simple good hearted man who made an honest living from selling fish that he caught everyday from the sea with fellow fishermen. Her mother on the other hand looked after the home and attended to her husband and her only child. Eliza was now eight years old and a lovable child. She was sweet, affectionate and was very fond of the church. She attended Bible classes regularly and was a part of the choir too. However she always wanted to be a part of the weekly play but was too shy to audition, but this time she summoned up the courage and decided to go for it. Along with Eliza were several other little girls waiting their turn to. The play needed little girls to look pretty and graceful doing simple ballet flips. They were going to be the angels in the play and they eagerly chatted about how beautiful they would look in the pretty white gowns and angel wings. It was every girl’s dream and Eliza was no exception. When it came to her turn, Eliza gave her best shot at the ballet flip but unfortunately could not hold the last pose too well. She anyway left the stage for the next girl to perform. Ten minutes later a lady came out with the list of the girls selected. Eliza and the other girls scrambled around to look at the list. Eliza looked through the list and her name was not there, she stood watching sadly as the other girls celebrated. One girl in a lovely pink dress mocked Eliza by saying “You have no grace, and look at you, your dress is so messy, and you are ugly” and another girl added “That’s why your name is not on the list”. On hearing this, Eliza stormed out of the church with tears running down her cheeks. She ran till she reached the beach. She walked slowly towards the boat that her father used for fishing and took a seat at the edge and watched the waves gently wash over few tiny pretty shells along with them. She picked them up and was looking at them through teary eyes when she noticed Father Dennis walk up to her. He looked at Eliza and smiled and said “Hi there, you seem a little upset”. Eliza did not reply and continued to keep her gaze on the shells. Father Dennis pulled out a rosary from his pocket and handed it to her and asked her “What do you think about this?” Eliza’s face lit up immediately on seeing it and said “Wow they are so pretty”. She run her fingers over the tinted pink pearls of the rosary and observed them closely. He then asked her “You know where these pearls come from?” Eliza shook her head and said “No”. Father Dennis then pulled out an oyster from his pocket and showed it to her. Eliza frowned looking at the dark greenish brown ugly shell. He then smiled and said “These ugly oysters bear the most prettiest and valuable pearls like the ones in the rosary. They are the least of the prettiest shells in the sea but they are sought after the most because of what they have on the inside”. Eliza looked at him and waited for him to go on. “God also values people like pearls, it only matters to him that you are a good person on the inside and you will easily be his favorite. He considers all those with pure hearts his angels, and you have one such heart too, Eliza”. This brought a smile on her face and Father Dennis saw that she was not crying anymore. He patted her head and got up to leave saying he was getting late for tea. Eliza looked up at him and said “Thank you Father, I feel good now”. She watched him as he walked away. She got up threw away the shells she had in her hand, smiled and did a little flip, she told to herself “I am indeed God’s Angel”……..