Bad Luck Disguised

Two traveling angels knocked on the door of the home  of a wealthy couple and asked if they could stay the night. These  rich folks had  a big house with several vacant bedrooms but refused the angels overnight accommodation. “But you can sleep in the  basement if you choose for tonight only,” was their reply. “And don’t think  we are going to feed you.”

The basement  had a hard concrete floor, and it was drafty and unheated.

Searching for something to lie on, the older Angel moved some crates and saw there was a large hole in one of the basement walls: he decided to repair it. Before lying down on the hard cold floor, the younger Angel asked the Older one, “Why did you do that? These people were not exactly friendly.” His senior partner replied, “Things are not always what they appear to be at first.”

 

The next evening found the traveling Angelic twosome resting in the home of a poor farmer and his wife. The pair were extraordinarily welcoming and hospitable, sharing what little they had to eat with their guests and even forsaking their own bed and allowing the Angels to sleep in it so they could have a good night’s rest.

At sunrise the following morning, however,  tragedy struck, and the farmer and his wife were in tears. Their only cow, whose milk provided their sole income, lay dead in the field.  The younger Angel was angry with his older companion. “How could you let this happen? The other day we stayed with a wealthy family who had everything but gave us no food and told us to sleep on a cold basement floor. But you fixed their wall. In fact, you cannot even tell where there was a hole. The farmer and his wife  have next to nothing but shared it all willingly with us, and you repaid them by allowing the cow to die. What’s up with that?”

Again, the senior angel said, “Things are not always what they seem at first,” he said.  When we stayed in the home of those wealthy people, I saw they stored all their money and gold in the hole in the wall. Since these rich people were so obsessed with greed and had no regard for others, I sealed up the wall so they would not be able to find or get their money. And last night when we slept in the farmer’s bed, the Angel of Death  came for his wife. I gave the Death Angel the farmer’s cow instead.

 

Most of us have lived through days when everything seemed to be going wrong. But things aren't always as they seem at first and stories like that aren't confined to parables. Some are worth spinning

They happen in real life. Here is one.

In the 1990s  Joanne was a struggling single mother, unemployed and living  in poverty  in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her only financial support came from Scotland's meager welfare system. It wasn't much.

Then Joanne’s mother died, and she went into a deep depression. She called it her darkest hour. But Joanne loved to write and dreamed of being a successful author. She approached twelve different publishing companies before she found one that was willing to publish her story.  Many publishers at the time thought that writing a children's book about a boy wizard was  bound to fail. Bloomsbury Publishing in London was willing to “chance it,’ but the company advised her to get a day job since it was doubtful she would earn much money from her book.

Joanne was J.K. Rowling and when Harry Potter was eventually published, it went on to become one of the most successful book series in history, leading to global fame, wealth, and recognition.

 

Looking back years later, Rowling often said those difficult years had shaped both her character and her writing.

 

What feels like misfortune today may quietly become tomorrow's greatest blessing.