Jannie spent time out of mind with the teaching angels.  The classroom was set outside with a small group of souls.  The Angel of Music and Healing stood while the little ones sat semi circle around him. Jannie sat crossed legged and transfixed.  The angel Raoul hovered in a flowing robe of seemingly clear crystals that cascaded down his form as waterfalls over rocky cliffs. When he plucked one of the seven strings on his gilded lute the sound reverberated and the crystals on his gown glowed in its corresponding color. The effect was magical, each string alone shown one of the chakra colors, but in combination every nuance of colorful possibility intertwined and drew upwards.  He tenderly struck a combination of strings that initially burst forth red, blue and yellow but instantly reformed into purples, oranges and greens weaving into colored sound.

            The colors wrapped themselves around the young charges, pulsating through and connecting them as one.  The sensation was all consuming and the children were lost in a whirlwind of bliss. They gasped with delight as they embodied the joy of the music into the very fabric of their souls.

After a few moments the vibrations of color unwound themselves and floated up and away dissipating into the ether. The children clamored for more.  Raoul spoke, “I will play for you a song of love, a song of oneness, a song of completeness.”

He began at if the song was of longing and the tones and colors shed deep indigo tears from the strings of his lute, the song brought the bittersweet sadness that only true love knows.  Suddenly a glimmer of hope erupted from the quivering strings, and the tones and colors of soft pink and golden yellow echoed.  The song swept along the outside of the little circle inspiring and promising that divine love lived in its depths. The children brightened following every movement of the angel’s delicate hands. 

Then Raoul chose deeper tones combining them so that the song began to build in a trough of vibration filling up the emptiness until it became full, as a great wave before it crests and opens up its crystalline beauty of greens and frothy whites filling in every nuance of doubt and angst. The vibrating greens washed over the children immersing them in its healing.  The song was complete, having come full circle in the wheels of color and vibration. Their chakras cleansed, their lights hummed in an iridescent glow.  Music was not merely an ephemeral pleasure; it was a magical medicine for the soul.

The formal lesson was complete.  Some of the children wandered away chasing the remnants of the rainbow song.  Jannie shyly approached Raoul, looking longingly at the lute. “Would you like to try?” he offered. She nodded her head and reached out brushing the strings ever so lightly. A smattering of sparkles danced from their vibration humming softly. She giggled with delight.

Raoul scooped her up into his lap as the great lute was larger than she.  She smiled up at the ageless face, his translucent skin hummed as the lute; his eyes sparkled in their depths.  She felt his joy, he shared God’s creation with others, the creation of music, it brought him peace beyond all knowing.

“Here,” he instructed as he placed her small hands against the strings, “like this.”  She felt a sensation of tingling as her fingers stroke the strings, a beautiful sound released and she listened and watched as it floated before her. Again the angel placed her hands and again she tingled.   She recognized a song, a lullaby her mother had sung to her, astonished she looked at Raoul. He smiled gently, knowing he had stirred memories, “All music comes from this realm.  Your mother was singing you a song of love from here.”

“I miss her,” Jannie wept in the arms of the angel as only a human soul can.

“Oh, little one, do not dismay. As we play this melody we are sending it to your mother, she can feel your love.  You know the bonds of love are never broken.” He repeated the words she had heard many times since she had been here. First from Azrael, then from her guide Emma, and then from every angel she had encountered.  These words were the healing balm her soul needed.  Yes, she knew, she felt her mother always, but she felt her sadness too.

“Will she ever not be sad?” she asked.

“The Great Sorrow is very strong in the human heart.  Once it takes hold it never truly leaves, it may hide deep but it will reappear by its own will.  You may think it is a bad thing, but it is not.  It helps the soul break open, and then the soul can repair and grow deeper,” he explained.

“But I thought we are perfect, everyone says we are. Then why do we need to grow?” she asked.

“That is an excellent question, little one,” the angel paused and chose his words carefully.  Her mind was clever he knew, but she was still a child, a budding soul in God’s country. “All of God’s creation must continue to grow-it is the nature of love. Love expands and grows and becomes more.”

Raoul looked to the horizon and saw the deep blue approach of Azrael. It was common knowledge amongst the angels that Azrael had an affinity for this child, where ever she was, he was soon to follow.

“Ah, it appears your friend Azrael has felt your distress,” he motioned towards the approaching figure.

Jannie hopped down from the powerful lap and flew into his arms. “Oh Azrael!” she gushed and wrapped her small arms around him. He nodded toward Raoul acknowledging the great teacher.

“What have you done to my Jannie that I hear her tears?” he asked protectively. Raoul smiled but said nothing.

“Its okay, Azrael.  We were just singing a song that my mother,” the words caught in her throat. She looked up at him with a tenderness he knew from no one else.  This is what drew him to her.  She pulled him into her world of emotion and love.

“Your mother is fine, come I will show you,” he offered and he spread his great wings and flew with her in the direction of the Watching Cliffs.

Jannie snuggled into his angel energy, finding a comfort she found nowhere else.  All the beings of God’s country walked in love, but in Azrael’s arms she felt something more, something her young mind could not describe. She longed to be near him, even if he was the Angel of Death.

They cleared the sky onto a seemingly barren cliff.  It was on the edge of their world. The burnt orange and golden browns of the jagged rock leant itself to the otherwise colorless cliff.  Azrael landed and placed Jannie on the precipice. Her toes clung to the edge and she leaned over looking into the space below. Scattered clouds and a lone bird filled the air. She felt as though she was higher than she had ever been, looking down into an endless abyss.

“This is the Watching Cliff,” Azrael explained, “It is here you may come from time to time to view the earth.”

Azrael waved his hand over the air and a scene opened up.  Jannie could see her mother inside her house, inside her room, comforting someone who was lying on her bed. She saw them from a bird’s eye point of view. The figure on the bed rolled over on her back and Jannie saw that it was her cousin Becca, crying. 

“I have left a mess behind,” she said disheartened.

“No, little one, you have done God’s will.  This is all part of his plan.  You will see, in the end all will be as it should be,” he tried to comfort her.

“You don’t understand the pain, Azrael! You don’t shed tears! You only have an angel heart, not a human heart!” Her outburst caught him off guard.  He felt something uncomfortably heavy in his chest, a spasm of angst.

“It is true; I do not have a human heart.  I am not certain I would want one, it is too fragile,” he regretted his words as they left his mouth.

“Why did you bring me here? I don’t want to see them cry!” her distress was mounting. He fumbled for meaning and struggled for control.

“Hush!” he commanded. She stifled her whimpering. “I brought you here so you could sing your mother her song.  She would find comfort in that.  But if you wish to be, to be childish, then we will just leave.” He looked at her sternly and her huge eyes melted him.

Jannie burst into laughter, “Silly angel! I am a child!”

He released a sigh, “You won’t always be, and then I assure you, you won’t be able to use that excuse,” he said mildly regaining his composure.

Jannie squeezed his hand and began to sing the lullaby her mother had taught her.  She watched as the colored vibration flowed from her mouth and floated into the abyss finding its way into her old room.  The melody swirled around the heads of those below. Her mother was now embracing Becca and the two held close. The melody wrapped itself around them in a cocoon of color and Jannie felt a lightness.  She sensed their release of the Great Sorrow, even if only for that brief moment and she regained her joy.

She turned to Azrael, “Thank you for bringing me here.  I am sorry if I hurt your feelings before, sometimes we humans hurt the ones we love even when they are trying to help us,” she confessed in her childlike wisdom.

Azrael was taken off guard; this child caused a longing in him he had never experienced, never expected.  He pushed it away and gently said, “All is forgiven, you have not harmed me in any way.” She had not harmed him, this was true, but she was causing a shift in his consciousness. She smiled at him as he pulled her up in his arms and flew deeper back into God’s country.