Have you ever wished you had a fairy godmother? I have. I envy Cinderella having her very own fairy godmother ready to bequeath her with gifts just when she needed them most.

Fairy godmothers are powerful characters in their possession of strengths, talents and gifts worthy of our aspiration and admiration. They can be nourishing resources who pay special attention to us when we are most vulnerable.

Fairy godmothers transform hopeless and frightening circumstances into positive empowerment. They convert seemingly purposeless and destructive existences into significant and creative lives. They are agents of a special magic which embodies the belief that all things can grow, change and blossom. Their magic convinces us that no matter how vacant, ugly, final or dead something may seem; within its layers is the truly full, beautiful, new and alive.

Yes, I wish I had a fairy godmother, and I wish our church and our country had one too. We could use a fairy godmother right now.

You know, maybe my wish for a fairy godmother has been granted after all. Fairy godmothers don't make things appear "out of thin air." They gift us by drawing out of our inner selves the strengths and talents we might never discover about as quickly, firmly or lovingly all by ourselves. We might even be afraid to discover or reveal them.

Cinderella needed her fairy godmother when she was most in need of self-assurance, hope and love. Her fairy godmother simply had to rearrange a few external details and give her a few words of encouragement for her to gain admittance to the ball. It was Cinderella's own innate goodness, grace and beauty which called forth her godmother's desire to come to her aid. Together they converted the ragged, sooty, cinder-girl appearance so that Cinderella's inner beauty could shine through.

You know, I have a feeling that my wish for a fairy godmother has been granted after all. There always have been, and still are, fairy godmother-type people who nudge, gift, sustain and challenge us. We all have these guiding, human fairy godmothers. They seem to appear at those crucial moments when we are fearful, anxious, or weary of believing in ourselves or our circumstances. These special people in our lives always seem to be there, no matter how ragged, sooty and cinder-faced we might be.

Just look around you. Look at the people you know, the people you live with, the people you work with, those you minister to and with. And then look within yourself.

These fairy godmothers are our Spirit-filled selves:

• whenever we assist in converting the fractured, splintered hopes of "what seems" into the healing promise of "what can be,"
• whenever we contribute to the soundness of body which is peace,
• whenever we risk peering beyond rags, soot and cinders and expose the little pieces of light that we all are for one another.

Yes, I have a feeling that my wish for a fairy godmother has been granted after all.