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Hello, friends. Here's our story. Feel free to send it along to the people you
love.
The last days of summer and the first days of fall are some of Oregon’s finest.
In mid-October, 1998, on one of those days, Diane Harrington sat on a park bench
at Waterfront Park in downtown Portland during her lunch break.
Watching the reflections of the sun on the water, she spotted a white dove,
which flew down and perched right in front of her on the promenade wall. For
several long moments, the bird watched, turning right to let Diane see one eye,
turning left to let her see the other, and sometimes pointed its beak directly
toward her.
“There are plenty of gray pigeons on the Portland waterfront, but not many white
ones,” Diane says, “and it seemed unusual to see one entirely alone. Although I
could not fathom why, I sensed the dove was there with some sort of intent, a
purpose.” The presence of the bird was having an unexpectedly profound effect
upon Diane. “Are you an angel in disguise?” she asked it in her heart. The dove
flew down toward the water, and she lost sight of it.
A few weeks later on a Saturday morning, Diane was catching up on
apartment-cleaning when, for some reason, she felt compelled to go to the patio
door. Looking out, she saw a dozen white doves circling and swooping in the back
yard. “Their flights seemed to be orchestrated, like precision choreography,”
she says. And again, although there are plenty of black crows in her yard, Diane
had never experienced the presence of white doves---especially doves who almost
looked as if they were performing. Then, one by one, the birds began to depart.
Impulsively Diane ran out her front door and into the parking lot to catch a
final view.
“As I looked around, I saw that four of the white birds were perched on my
neighbor’s rooftop,” Diane relates. “Sylvia’s brother had died a day or two
before, and I wondered if, perhaps, the doves were blessing her household. I
also saw four white doves perched on my portion of the roof. Another four
circled in the sky. It was incredulous, delightful.”
A week later, Diane’s nephew and his family phoned to say they were coming to
visit her mother and her. “Their visits bring happiness, so that was very good
news,” Diane says. “I was still somewhat overwhelmed by the doves of the
previous Saturday, so I said a little prayer. I asked God that if He had sent
the doves last week, could He send them again so my mother and my nephew’s
family could see them.”
During the family’s visit, the white doves came once again and performed their
lovely flying circus. Diane did not tell anyone about her prayer, but everyone
enjoyed the flying entourage.
The birds did not return. But the next month, December, brought the sad news
that Diane’s mother was terminally ill, diagnosed with esophageal cancer that
had metastasized in the lungs. Diane remembered that Saturday when the four
doves had rested on her neighbor’s roof after the death of her brother.
Diane had wondered if it was some kind of heavenly consolation. Now she thought
of the doves that had alighted on her own roof, and the flock that had flown so
beautifully over her family. In many cultures, it is believed that beautiful
birds are sometimes angels in disguise. Was God, in fact, sending her a sign of
reassurance and comfort? How she wanted to believe it!
Diane had her answer within days. She visited a friend, Marie, who was packing
up for a move. Marie, a commercial artist, occasionally gifted friends with her
paintings, and she had saved one especially for Diane. “The minute I finished
it, I knew it was for you,” Marie told Diane, “although I’m not sure why.”
Diane knew, and she sent a silent “thank you” to God. The oil was a painting of
white doves.
Copyrighted 2004 Joan Wester Anderson. For more stories of God's love, check the
website at: http://ww.joanwanderson.com
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