Michael, Beloved of God

An Archangel, an old woman, a walk along the beach. Both with stories to tell, both reluctant to share them. Neither knew why they were brought together in this particular moment of eternity, but He did, the one who sent them. For the sands of man's hour glass were almost spent. The appointed hour of the final judgment and the apocalypse approached.

A story of faith and doubt, of fear and hope.
Will mankind rise or fall?
Will Michael's fallen brother Lucifer prevail in the end? Will he stand as a witness for God's firstborn as his brothers, the heavenly hosts,carry out their father's wrath against his youngest children? He was not spared the consequence of his own disobedience. Why should mankind be different? Was he not greater than man? Let them feel the fire of his wrath and fall beneath the weight of their own arrogance. There was plenty of room in hell for all.



"Before. We were. Before there was light, before the stars were hung, before the galaxies were fashioned and the planets set to revolving around their suns, before the oceans were mixed, before the mountains were formed, before creatures were created, before there was sound, before there was matter, before there was time, before all except the One, we were. He formed us first to be his companions and his servants, to share his joy, and receive his light. Joyfully we glorified his name. We delighted in the newly formed universes. We tended His gardens, lovingly stood watch over his creations, His will always our delight.
The secrets of the ages we kept and still keep. In our eyes stars are born and rise and have their being. All of his creations delight in His holy will, obey his every thought, and joyously dance to the tune He plays for them.
Only man, who was formed in His holy image, dares to defy his laws. To your kind he gave generously of even the highest gifts, that none but we, the first born, knew. Those of us who always were did not know of his intent, nor did we understand the implications at first of these new children. Although it wasn't long before our interest was piqued, roused by the discovery He, who knows all things seemed not to recognize this latest creation was not of us, was not fit to be called one of His children.
We believed it impossible for Him to be mistaken. We assumed it was our own perception in error. For was He not perfect? Were not all possibilities contained within him? So we searched for the fault in our own eyes, frustrated our vision was proving so fallible: we who knew Him so well. Why could we not pierce the mystery of his forbearance with these new ones?
Though we did not understand His impenetrable will, we bowed, as always, before it. And why should we presume to understand Him? Was He not also our creator? Were we not formed to serve? Who were we to question, judge even, the Almighty, in whom all beings live and move and find life? We waited for him to reveal his purpose to us.
And we watched with curiosity, not unmixed with dread, as He busied himself with his new creations. So many gifts he gave them: dominion over their world and over the beasts of the field, rule over the birds of the sky and the fishes in the seas. But these were the least of His blessings upon them. For He gave them also immortality, self-awareness, and an awareness of His holy being; but the most curious, and to our minds it has proved the most dreadful of all, the gift of free will. These new children were given the right of self-determination, to choose their way, for good or ill and it was not long before the first among them chose defiance over obedience.
We waited for His just condemnation of their poor choice, but He relented. We whispered amongst ourselves, questioned in our hearts, but never to Him, though we knew He reads all hearts and knows all thoughts. All minds are laid bare before him. We watched horrified at the appalling consequences of His holy gift to one who proved over and over again he was unworthy of the condescension shown him.
Was man grateful? Did he prostrate himself most humbly before his creator for the abundant blessings bestowed upon him? No! He set himself against the Almighty and defied His most holy laws. He rose against his brother and for this God's anger was great. He almost wiped them clean from the face of this little earth, but again in His infinite mercy, He relented. He spared a few of the most worthy of His experiment. He gave the race of men a new chance and in time they rose again. Yet still they proved unworthy of His forbearance. Again and again they tested the limits of His wrath. Again and again He relented of His ultimate judgment over them. We watched awed by His restraint, darkly amused at times by the risks these little children took.