ABOUT PENNIES FROM HEAVEN AND ANGELIC MESSAGES

A long time ago
A million years BC
The best things in life
Were absolutely free

But no one appreciated
A sky that was always blue
And no one congratulated
A moon that was always new

So it was planned that they would vanish now and then
And you must pay before you get them back again
That's what storms were made for
And you shouldn't be afraid for

Every time it rains, it rains
Pennies from heaven
Don't you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven

You'll find your fortune falling
All over town
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down
Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers

If you want the things you love
You must have showers
So when you hear it thunder
Don't run under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me

It may be a good thing that pennies no longer exist to add to the bulk of loose change currency in circulation today. In a way, it is kind of sad though that some rich history and good old-fashioned sagedom has fallen by the wayside along with the loss of the vintage copper coinage so common in pocket books and purses little more than a century ago.

Admittedly of minimal value in my time, we still "saved our pennies" for a rainy day because they "added up". How often we heard the expression "a penny saved is a penny earned." We also considered it a stroke of luck when we found a penny and fervently believed that "When it rained, it always rained pennies from heaven."

We placed a lot of stock in priceless lyrics of the song "Pennies From Heaven" as they came over the radio air waves in the form of the rich baritone voice of crooner Bing Crosby (lyrics reproduced above to add impitus to this bit of nostalgia on Wrights Lane). 

To my way of thinking, nothing captured a valued life lesson better than those words written by Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston for the 1936 movie by the same name. Pennies, representing a gift from Heaven accompanying rain that washed away all troubles, trials and tribulation.

Pennies from heaven came to mind the other day as I sipped a coffee at my neighborhood Tim Hortons. A Penny, not in the original form, but in a flash of devine white light.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

As an old-school kid, discovering a penny from heaven always meant that angels were trying to redirect my thoughts in a way that would enable me to discover my worth at a time when I perhaps needed it most.

In essence, if I sensed a feeling of despiration, pennies from heaven let me know that the clouds would soon dissipate and the sun would start shining again, so I should keep going. Kind of like sentiments expressed in the aforementioned Pennies From Heaven song.

Because they represented an energy purified, pennies from heaven were frequently referred to as circles of good luck. During their time in circulation, all coins make their way through many hands, serving as a strong reminder that we all connect in different ways and that people who are no longer physically here are still present in our hearts and memory.

Consider too that the beautiful meaning of eternal life is much like a timeless coin. It behooves us to always remember to leave our stamp here on earth while we have the time, for we are a part of a vast and intricate universal system. Nothing wrong in thinking that Angels give us our own little piece of heaven right here on earth.

Angels, if considered in the proper context, have a type of energy that restores a sense of fullness within us when we feel down. When life seems too much of a struggle and when things get very difficult.

All of which leads me back to my experience in the coffee shop the other day. It was really a day like all others in my life lately as years mount, health wanes and faculties deminish, all contributing to bouts of depressive worthliness and uselessness.

When you struggle with the impression that you are just putting in time and taking up space to no good avail, you pretty well accept that life as you formerly knew it is gone, never to be repeated. As disappointing and as debilitating as the reality of it all may be, I have come to grips with most of it as an inevitable phasing-out process imposed on a worn out old man who finds himself of no earthly value to anyone or anything.

On this particular occasion as I sat in customary solitude, however, I experienced a flash of white light that cast an unexplainable glow on my surroundings, bringing with it a whole new realm of love and light. I was immediately engulfed in a positive aura that enabled a sense of compassion and oneness for the individuals around me...And the world in general. I was overcome with the impulse to run around hugging everyone within my purview.

"Is this really happening?" I asked myself, half hoping that time would slow down for a moment and allow me to take it all in.

Yea, for the first time in a long time, I saw clearly then...literally and figuratively.

I no longer felt lonely or useless and was overwhelmed with the spiritual responsibity to keep the special moment alive. If only I could have bottled it or otherwise contained it. My challenge now is to apply that momentary clarity to the rest of my life.

Regardless, I have accepted that fleeting moment as an equivalent of the oldtime penny from heaven on an otherwise rainy day and I intend to save it for when I need it again for reinforcement, as I most assuredly will.

Indeed, we can tune into our angel's energetic qualities and welcome a whole new realm of love and light into our life, simply by paying attention to signs like this that are sent our way. When we do, we are more able to channel life's difficulties with a positive aura.

We do well to remember that life consists of what we put into it, even to the bitter end.

"So when you hear it thunder
Don't run under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me."