Being Guided by Signs and Symbols
© 2005 by Corinne McLaughlin

My father was recently rushed to a hospital emergency room, and in my efforts to help him and my family, I found myself in an unusual state of mind. I seemed to be continually guided by ordinary signs in the environment all around me and by the conversations of complete strangers. The synchronicity of the timing was profound. Even when I turned on the TV set, it turned out to be a show about reading signs in the environment, just as was happening to me. It was like being in a Celestine Prophecy novel where every coincidence is extremely meaningful. The usual blinders of daily life were suddenly ripped off and I could see how I was being constantly guided.

As I drove around the city, certain messages on billboards, bumper stickers and license plates suddenly jumped out at me and seemed to relate exactly to the issues I was grappling with.  Even a pedestrian crossing the street in front of me carried a message on a shopping bag that seemed to be meant for me. It read “Cancun”—and was just days after the recent hurricane caused such a disaster and stranded so many people. It seemed to say that the course of action I was about to take would be disastrous. And I took it to mean that big changes are coming in the world—get ready.

Angels seemed to be guiding me each step of the way, especially on a crucial day when I was visiting my father in the hospital.  Just as I entered the parking lot, reflecting on my dad’s life hanging in the balance, a man walked right in front of me and blessed himself by making the sign of the cross.

Uncannily, I would also hear messages that seemed to be meant for me in casual conversations at nearby tables in restaurants and from passersby talking to their friends as I walked past them.  For example, three people sitting at a table in a restaurant next to me were talking loudly about a family health crisis and how to solve it—and the specific issues and even the family names were almost identical to my own family.

It was so eerie that I finally went over to their table to see what was going on.  The first thing a very sweet, older lady said to me was, “Oh, did you hear our conversation?  Why don’t you sit down and join us--we’re all family here.”  That really unnerved me, so I just said a few words and quickly left.  Later I thought, Either this was a most unusual coincidence—or was it some angel in ordinary human form trying to help me by explaining what was going on with each person in my family?  I thought about all the popular books published lately with stories about ordinary people being helped by angels.

On the other hand, I also considered that I could possibly just be going off the deep end!

My father is doing much better now as I write this, but the whole experience made me wonder, how many helpful messages are out there for each of us that we usually miss because we’re not paying attention???