A small child, reared in a Christian home, was familiar with many of the Bible stories relative to angels. She knew well and loved the story about God sending His angel to close the mouths of the lions, thus saving Daniel, and about God sending His angel to deliver the three young men from the fiery furnace. And how her heart had thrilled with the story of the youth whose father had bound him and laid him upon the altar as a sacrifice, when an angel called to Abraham and told him not to touch his son!
She wondered why she could not see and talk to these angels, and why her parents had never told her about ever having seen or talked with them. Furthermore, she was confused by having been taught that when she died she would, if she were good, go to heaven to be one of God's angels.
With great joy this child, now grown to womanhood, read on page 581 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy that angels are "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality." As she pondered this definition of angels, it became clear to her that, although not recognized as such, they had appeared in all ages to those who were looking for good. She began to realize that the reason why she had not consciously talked with angels was that she had been looking for some tangible appearance in the air. Now, she began to see that many times in her experience an angel visitant had come to her and delivered her.
