The Parable of the Angels

A friend sent me this story. He is a very deep thinker and this story is one someone told him a long time ago and he wanted to share it with me and I wanted to share it with you

There were these two angels traveling Earth. They were exhausted from walking all day long, and it was now nightfall. It was cold and dark and they were hungry and so tired. The older one pointed out a huge mansion and said, "Let's go there and see if the will put us up for the night."

So they go to the door of this big huge beautiful old mansion and knock. The rich man comes to the door and says, "What do you want."

The younger angel says, "Please sir, we are traveling and we are exhausted and cold and hungry. May we please stay in your lovely home this evening?"

The rich man rolls his eyes and leads them to the basement. He says, "Well I guess you can sleep down here, it's just an old dirt floor in the foundation of the house, and the foundation has these big drafty cracks in it, but it's better than outside. Just be gone by dawn." And he leaves them. 

The younger angel lays down to sleep but sees the older angel inspecting the foundation. The older angel begins to work, and spends the night fixing all the cracks, sealing up the foundation. The younger angel says to him, "What are you doing? This wealthy man could have been so generous to us and it wouldn't have affected him at all. He barely let us stay in his basement, and you're helping him? You're fixing his foundation?"

The older angel shrugs and says, "You can't judge what you don't know. Things are not always what they seem."

So for another day the angels walk and walk until nightfall and again, they are exhausted and cold and hungry. They come to a small house. It is tiny and obviously the people here are poor. Before they can even decide if they should ask the small home owners if they could stay the night, the owners came running out to them on the road.

The young husband and wife put their arms around the angels and said, "Come inside! You must be so cold out here! We have a warm fire. You will spend the night with us. Whatever we have we will share with you." They are smiling and happy, they are not at all upset that they are poor and have a meager home. They smile at each other and explain that they are newly weds, and very much in love. "It's a small home and we don't have much but we have this cow, so we have fresh milk and cheese. It's how we survive. And we have our deep love for each other. So therefore it's a good home. Come inside!" 

And they bring the angels into their home. The angels happily sit down in front of the warm fire, and the husband and wife gladly give them the little food they have, and they gladly share the few blankets they have. The young angel soon falls asleep.

In the morning the young angel wakes to find the couple sitting at the table crying. The older angel is no where to be seen. The young angel jumps and asks them, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Oh, it's so terrible!" The young couple tells them. "Our cow has died! How will we live! What will we do?"

The young angel runs outside to see, and there he sees the older angel with Death. The older angel is shaking Death's hand, and Death walks away, with the cow.

The younger angel is furious. He begins screaming at the older angel. "How could you do this!! What is wrong with you! First that selfish horrible wealthy man won't even give us a crumb or a candle, and you spend all night repairing his foundation! And as if that's not enough, last night, this wonderful young newly wed couple invite us into their home and they give us everything they can give us unselfishly, but here you are allowing Death to kill their cow?? How horrible are you!"

The older angel says, "This is your lesson in our travels. You can not judge what you don't know. Things are now always what they seem."

The young angel cries, "What is that supposed to mean!!"

And the older angel explains, "Two nights ago at the mansion, I spied hidden gold bars in the foundation of the house. Treasure hidden unbeknownst to the wealthy man. I repaired the cracks so he would never see and find the gold that he did not deserve. And last night, I spent the entire night out here. I begged and pleaded with Death all night long. Last night, Death came for the wife. I begged him to take the cow instead."