I don't believe in angels anymore

Well, I do - but not in the way that I used to - as external authorities who, ever so kindly, told me how to be and what to do. I believe, instead, in the illuminated presence of divine light in all things.We live in an illuminated and responsive world and when we pray or ask for signs, support, reassurance, or rescue, it's not only angels that respond. Every rock and stone, every leaf and twig, every grain of sand - every living being and every single person - is vibrating with luminous animating radiance. Our prayers are carried by the very air - and every particle of this world participates in the delivery of the response. That response may amaze, as with synchronicity or a flat out miracle. More often, the response to our prayer will be completely unremarkable - a subtle shift in the body that sparks healing, a coincidental meeting with just the right person to shift our whole life. Either way, it's a response, in and of itself, a miracle and most of the time, it's not an angel that delivers it:  it's the world.This is not to say that there is no God. Just the opposite. The Divine is both the creator of this shimmering and responsive world AND the container inside of which it is held. It is both Animator and animated, Creator and created, Caller and Responder - a dance of masculine and feminine qualities, flexible and wide enough to includes all qualities and expressions.In this way, the world is designed to respond to our need: each particle infused with the wisdom and intelligence to perform its purpose just as we are designed to call for that response. It's a relationship.Every cell in the body, every plant, every tree is designed to follow its own nature and to interact with the world in its own way. Leaves 'know' how to perform photosynthesis, lungs 'know' how to transform breath into life. Birds 'know' when and how to migrate, just as salmon 'know' when and how to start swimming upstream.As human beings, you and I have the privilege of knowing all of this and to know that we know.  We are aware of awareness. This matters, moving forward because it invites us to cultivate that relationship that we're designed for consciously. It removes the layer of separation between human being and Divine, even as it reminds us there is no separation between us and those plants, trees, birds, salmon and leaves.As I see the truth of my own relationship with this enchanted and responsive world, and I see the truth of my own divine nature, I also see the truth of yours, removing the layers of separation between us - no matter how differently we behave or believe.When I experience myself as imbued with many of the qualities that I used to turn toward the angels to find, I find them also in you for we are, all of us, made like the angels, out of a love without conditions, an impulse toward helping and healing, a generous curiosity toward all creation.This is the truth that I know is real.