Angel Whispers

By Peg Jones

I have always wanted to be able to draw and paint. The colors and the scenes I have in mind are so vivid, yet I am not able to draw. I draw stick figures. I like to work in different mediums, like tissue paper or collage. When I have an idea in my mind of what I would like to paint or draw, I am able to verbally express what I see and I feel, which is a gift in itself.

I remember the years as a preschool teacher how I had to compensate for the lack of drawing skills. I had to trace everything or find models of what I needed at the time. Getting the art project ready for the next day would take much longer than my fellow colleagues, because they could whip it up in no time.

Hence this is why I start the poem ”If I could paint the images on my mind.” I was teaching preschool at the time, when I wrote this poem. I loved my job and would often watch my class playing well together in the sand box or playing with the toys in the classroom… I always thought, wow these guys play nicely now, how will they do as adults? Will they be as accepting of each other or others as they grow older? What kind of men will they turn out to be?

Our foundation of interactions with others starts as young children and the imprints of what our childhood was like do carry over to our adulthood in some way. Our leaders, our families, our neighbors, and our coworkers all have a story to tell and experiences that were lived. They help shape us to who we are today as adults. Our story is sad, troublesome, or it could be full of love. It could be full of happiness and success, or coming into a family who was poor, struggling, yet full of love, or a family of secrets. We are all God’s children and he loves us all so much. We are all one and we all want peace, not war, enough for all, not scarcity as in certain parts of the world. We all want to be loved and to be accepted… I feel it starts with ourselves and that is self love…If we love ourselves, then we can love one another, and then we will truly be able to love each other.