As an early Christmas gift, my mom gave me a figurine of a peaceful-looking angel dressed in white with a music box inside that played the Christmas carol “Silent Night.” It’s a beautiful piece, and yet I know that real angels are not winged beings, as artists have long rendered them. Rather, they are inspiring, spiritual intuitions from God. 

In the Bible, angels are messengers from God, ministering to people’s needs, announcing, enlightening, and guiding. Those who were receptive to angels, and subsequently obeyed their mandates, were blessed, and these blessings reached many others as well.

As I set the figurine on the table, I began pondering the role the angels of God’s presence played in the unfoldment of the Christmas story. From just one to a multitude, angels surrounded the glorious appearing of the holy infant. How could those events have been fulfilled without angels?