Things Are Not Always As They Seem

Two angels disguised as humans stopped at a house and knocked at the door, hoping for some food and lodging. The residents of the house proved to be terribly rude and obnoxious. They were negative
and greedy, giving barely (and resentfully) a crust of bread, and a very small serving of putrid water.
Grudgingly, they allowed the strangers to spend the night, but made them sleep in the back room on
a cold, hard floor without blankets or pillows.
As the two angels prepared to turn in, they noticed a hole in the wall. One of the angels immediately
went to the wall and began to patch it. He worked until the wall was completely repaired – smooth,
without any evidence of the hole.
“I sure don’t understand why you went to the bother of fixing that wall for them” the second angel
said, “Those people were downright mean and nasty. They didn’t deserve to have their hole
patched!”
“Things are not always as they seem,” said the first angel.
The next morning, the two angels made their way down the road to another house. It was a small
cottage, belonging to a poor farmer and his wife. This poverty stricken couple hardly had enough to
survive, and barely scraped by. Yet, in contrast to the first hosts, they were kind, generous and
gracious.
“We don’t have much food in the house, but we gladly share it with you, friends,” said the good
hearted farmer. After a simple meal, the angels were given the farmer’s bed for the night. “My wife
and I will sleep on the floor. We don’t mind.”
The angels slept comfortably.
In the morning, the farmer and his wife were horrified to discover that something terrible had
happened in the night. Their only cow died -- just keeled over and went belly up. Now, they really
needed this cow. They depended on her for milk every day. It was a heartbreaking experience, and
they wept bitterly.
Leaving the home, the second angel said, “Now, I REALLY don’t understand this! At the first home,
the people were rotten and treated us badly, and you fixed the hole in their wall. Now, the second
couple was kind and good to us, and this is how they are repaid? It doesn’t make sense at all!”
Again, the first angel said, “Things are not always as they seem.”
“Well they sure seem wrong to me!” complained the first angel, “Can you give me an explanation?”
The first angel replied, “At the first home, a long time ago, someone hid a great treasure trove of gold
and diamonds in that wall. I patched the hole, so those selfish people would never have it.”
“Yes, but what about the cow?” the second angel inquired.
“Last night the angel of death came into the house. He had come for the farmer’s wife, but I talked
him into taking the cow instead.”
Things are not always as they seem.