We all sat before the Almighty One himself, waiting for our names to be called to receive our wings. Some were nervous, some excited, and some neutral, but all of us were ready for the duties that would be given to us. Everyone had trained really hard to be here, to receive our wings. It was a really exciting event but nerve racking.

“Gabriel.”

My name is Lena. I would have to wait a while until He got to the names beginning with L on the list. I didn’t know if this was good or bad. In some ways it was good, I had a while to prepare myself for the pin of getting my wings, but it was also torture having to wait so log to finally become a guardian angel. Good or bad, I guess it really doesn’t matter. I’ll receive my wings sooner or later. Right?

“Joseph.”

He was getting close to the L’s now. Wouldn’t be long now until He’ll say my name and I’ll go up on the stage for Him to put my wings on. I was prepared for the pain, prepared for the responsibility. I am going to be one of the best guardian angels ever!

“Lena.”

Finally, my name has been called! Standing, I walked up to the stage, glancing some at all the empty seats. I was to be the last to receive my wings. That didn’t worry me any; I always seemed to be last in everything because of my name.

I stood before Him and took a deep breath. Here’s the moment that I’ve been waiting for. He smiled down at me but didn’t do anything. Then He spoke.

“Lena, you shall not be receiving wings today.”

I knew a looked of surprise crossed my face when He said that. “Um, why is that, Almighty One?”

“You will not need wings for what I have in mind for you.” He laid a hand on my shoulder. “Actually, when you get to work you’ll find that wings would be, how do you say, problematic.”

“Problematic? Um, Almighty One, I am going to be a guardian angel, right?” I asked uneasily. I had trained for the day that I’d receive my wings and would become a guardian angel. If I wasn’t going to become an angel and I wasn’t going to receive my wings, what was I going to do?

“Yes, problematic, but you’ll see when you get there. Come with me, Lena.” The Almighty One started walking off the stage and I hastily followed, jogging to catch up. “You will be a guardian angel, though, just without wings. As I said, they will be problematic.”

Okay, I was still an angel, just missing my wings. What could He have in mind for me to do that will make having wings “problematic”?

“Well, what will I be doing, if I may ask?”

We were now walking through a long, marble hallway. Our footsteps echoed off the walls and I could see my reflections and the Almighty One’s in the hallway floor. “I’m going to send you down to Earth to protect a certain human for me. The person you will be protecting really needs you.”

Well, that was a basic assignment. That’s pretty much what I expected I’ll have to do when I became a guardian angel. “Okay. Is that everything?”

“No. You’ll be staying with this human until the human dies. The human is your permanent assignment. You can’t go around saving other lives. Only this one human’s.” He turned His gaze down to me. “And you will be visible to this one human.”

“Visible?” I asked, not believing what I was hearing.

“Yes, visible.”

“Who is this human?”

He smiled at me. “I’m glad you asked that.”