Angel in Disguise

Here's a tribute to my mother Lianne who is celebrating her birthday today. This was written by a young college student who requested to remain anonymous. Very true description of my mom. Simple, humble, sincere. Thank you Lord for giving us the best mother in the world! Happy birthday, mom - from all your kids!


“All God's angels come to us disguised.” ~James Russell Lowell

When I was little, I remember my grandmother telling me about guardian angels. She told me that each one of us had a guardian angel of our own. A few years back, I learned that mine was named Angel Rafael. That piece of information, while seemingly interesting to learn about, didn’t matter as much because I grew up already firmly believing that I always had an invisible angel guarding and guiding me every step of the way regardless if he/she had a name or not. However, little did I know that I would come across another angel – the visible, tangible kind – during my third year in college, and in the most unexpected way.

One of our past projects in the Student Council was an Auction for a Cause in which willing celebrities/icons donated some of their personal things for people to bid on. One of our donors was a young professional basketball player who also happened to be a TV host, commercial model, politician, and part- owner of a milk tea business. Since he had a very busy schedule, it was agreed that we coordinated with his mother to arrange pickup of his donations. Everything went smoothly as planned. We got the stuff, and politely thanked him and his mom who were both very kind in responding to our messages. From then on, we would coordinate with her whenever we intended to invite her son to our events. And it was through those multiple attempts and invites that I slowly started realizing how extraordinarily kind the person I was dealing with was. She was warm, humble, and most of all, sincere and genuine in her words and actions.

In the showbiz world today, whether a close friend, a family member, or the artist himself, it is very rare to find someone who would not make an ordinary person like me feel intimidated. But this particular woman proved me otherwise. She never missed to send her appreciation, apologies and acknowledgment to any of the messages I sent her. Her kindness to me reached its epitome when one day, after respectfully declining one of our event invites in behalf of her son, she decided to send me a text asking what my plan was for college. My heart literally skipped a beat because never did I see that coming. Why would someone like her even bother to spend a few minutes to ask about my future? But before I got completely caught up in the moment, I replied with polite humor that I was actually already in college...and graduating in a few months, too, at that time. She responded apologetically and found it so silly of her to forget the tiny detail that we have been inviting her son to guest in our COLLEGE activities. That moment, more than anything, left a mark in me because she made being ordinary true for both of us (even if her social status and lifestyle, among others, said otherwise).

Time passed by yet our communication remained. The kind of topics we talked about quietly shifted its course from being business-related to more personal ones. Before I knew it, I was seeking pieces of advice in life from her, and she was always so generous, kind and motherly in sharing her time, comfort and wisdom. It takes a genuinely pure and humble heart – one like hers – to do such an act to someone who you have never even personally met yet. Without her knowing, she inspires me every day in ways beyond words can ever tell. And every day I pray that God continues to use her as an instrument of His grace.

If we think about it, it was a leap of faith for both us to connect with each other despite being strangers. Although I guess what made the entire process lighter and easier was that we shared something crucial and undeniably special in our lives as mere humans... [our] strong FAITH in God.

Truly, God is the Master in knitting His children together to make His love felt. And indeed, all His angels come to us disguised – I know mine did. And I will forever be grateful to the Lord for it – for my guardian angel, in her.

June 25, 2013.
Dedicated to Tita Lianne.