I wrote the award winning children's book, Bartholomew's Gift, a story about a young boy who has an imaginary friend. He eventually reveals that his friend is an angel like the one he sees over the Christmas creche. Bartholomew's parents dismiss his experience as silly and unimportant.

Do you believe children really see angels or is it just a fantasy? Do you believe Angels exist? Do you know someone who has encountered an Angel?

A culmination of my own experiences and reading about other people's stories peaked my interest in Angelís involvement with us.

Granted, the vast majority of us will never see an angel while roaming the earth. Why would I chose to write a story about seeing angels when it is so remote and perceived as strange or the product of a very active imagination by most people?

A key element of the story is the angel's message. In the story, the angel sings a beautiful, soothing song. Her song reminds us that we are cherished by God; we are treasured by Him regardless of our humanness. Hard to believe sometimes, but true.

I wondered how could a story share this message with people in a soft acceptable way?

I believe Angels are God's personal message bearers. The message of God's care for us would be delivered by an angel. Yet, a story told from the angel's point of view would be perceived as preachy and hard to relate to. No, it had to come from sharing the experiences of one little boy.

A little boy young enough to be unspoiled by the worldís filter of all things spiritual; who would share the visits from his special friend with others. The adult reactions to the child are all too common and frankly understandable. Any parent would wonder if his or her child was either telling lies or a very creative storyteller if they claimed to be seeing or play with an angel.

This is not something normal or common, so there must be something wrong with the little boy who claims to see a shining lady and hear her sing. The connection to this ability is so delicate, so tender, that the slightest hint of it being wrong shuts it down.

It causes me to wonder how many of us in the deepest most repressed area of our being have an image of our angel's face.

About the time I began exploring Angels, my sister shared what happened with my nephew, then barely two, that confirmed my theory that very young children are more tuned in to the angelic realm.

My sister heard her son chatting away while playing alone in his room. When she asked him who he was talking to, he answered, Anthony. Now, my nephew had never heard the name Anthony let alone know anyone by that name.

When asked, whose Anthony, he replied, He comes down from the sky and plays with me. That's enough to give you goosebumps on your goosebumps!

It appeared that his guardian angel was hanging out and playing with the toys.

I began to think about how most parents would react in this instance and realized many would discount it or perhaps think there was something wrong with their little one. While it may be cute at age two, keep it up and there could be some real uncomfortable folks out there wondering if the child may have a mental illness.

While I don't want to discount the fact that there are times when a stressed child will make up stories, I still feel the ability of very young children to have a relationship with their guardian angel is prevalent though not accepted or given credence.

So, I wrote the story Bartholomew's Gift to let children who have had such experiences know they are not wrong or abnormal. And, to help parents worried over their child's invisible playmates to relax.

I wanted to remind everyone that angels are all around us, dropping subtle messages in our ear, reminding us to have a relationship with our heavenly Father.

Have you or someone you know had experience with seeing angels? Please share your angle stories by commenting on my blog at http://www.storieswithmorals.net