Little Angels with Big Hearts
Introducing the Lil’ Debils Gang
As usual, it was yet another unique “best day ever” in Heaven when Gracie, the angel of Faith; Luna, the angel of Hope; and Rosie, the angel of Wuv — I mean, Love — otherwise known as Pawpaw’s Little Angels, practiced their “entrances” at the Edge of Forever.
They got it into their little determinations that they simply must visit their Pawpaw in the very most “specialest” way possible.
To cheer him up. To encourage him on. To make him smile a little bit more.
And to share with him just a peek of the light and love that Cherished Jesus had wrapped around them like warm morning sunlight.
Each sister tried her very best not to mess up, and each added her own flavorings.
Gracie glowed with the incandescence of a thousand warm candles of remembrance.
Luna twirled with the shimmering expectation of promises already on their way.
And little Rosie smiled with the innocence and purity of unbounded happiness.
From Cloud Nine’s balcony, their curious little friends — the cherished cherubs imbued with God’s everlasting protection — looked on. They laughed at their tumbles, hoped for their successes, loved their delight in Jesus, and celebrated every finish with enthusiastic cheers.
But occasionally, the diminutive cherubs would toss too many flower petals, cheer on with too many glees, or erupt with too much zeal.
So eventually Gracie would have to march the little bundles of enthusiasms over to Aunt Bee’s porch for a revelation of her faithtastic, love-filled heavenly cookies until they glowed marvelously, with contentment of serene.
Of course Aunt Bee always welcomed an invasion of too many rambunctious little cuddle-joys on her ever-loving porch.
There was nothing Aunt Bee liked more than too much baking — except perhaps forgiving them away with much gracings besides. Not to mention that the porch, overflowing with laughing little angels stuffing their tummies with love, sent warm waves of revelation into the hearts of the neighboring prophets.
The prophets were known to coincidentally wander by whenever Aunt Bee’s porch overflowed with giggling little angels, bouncing with joy and stuffing themselves full of manifest miracles. Each one would leave with their pockets full of her freshly baked really-goods — dreams full of light, infinite joys, and hearts fitted with love made special just for them.
Incidentally, Moses and Elijah weren't fooling anyone. They foresaw warm cookies in their future.
Sometimes Ruth, Naomi, Hannah, Martha, Mary — and a handful of the other Marys — would join Aunt Bee to make enormous batches of heavenly bakings of wonder.
When those ladies worked together, the whole neighborhood smelled like the mirth of miracles: warm, comforting, and just a little bit of surprise.
Naturally, Pawpaw’s Little Angels delivered these sacred blessings to the playgrounds and to the all-arounds, letting generous handfuls on purpose rain down on all, short or tall.
The nurseries of Heaven squealed with delight, the children of God danced, and the apostles would pause to enjoy the sight of the showers of sweet blessings. Even St. Bart was known to break into his happy cookie shuffle — but shh, don’t tell.
Introducing the Lil’ Debils
But today, the three little cherubs were finally going to visit Pawpaw! Each one had her pockets stuffed full of baked really‑goods, gifts for Pawpaw.
But oh dear, and oh my, and oh such, they had no idea what awaited them down below.
For those little devils—well, at least a notorious, ridiculously pesky, no-good little gang of them known as the Lil’ Debils — were… guess where? Yep. Pretty much right smack in front of Pawpaw’s house. Arguing, fighting, fussing, scratching their back-theres, and even picking their pointed noses. Ew.
There were three flashes of light—gold, blue, and rose. Boom, boom, pop! And suddenly, there they stood, right in front of Pawpaw’s door.
But Gracie, Luna, and Rosie were so anxious to visit their Pawpaw that they hadn’t looked ahead, so… oh bother, and oh boy, and goodness gracious too.
The giant Grumbles, the leader of the Lil’ Debils, jumped with a start. “What the — I feel warmth and delight! And that I do spite!”
Snide wrinkled his crooked nose. “I smell precious cherubs of blessedness… and that is always something I despisedness!”
Incidentally, Snip bit Snide. We don’t know why, perhaps he don’t like the guy?
Sneek slithered up behind the girls’ shadows, like a sneaky snake — and we don’t like those.
“What have we here?” demented Snark moaned. “Pretentious tiny angels of nothingness… oh ho no!”
Sneer scorned, stomping his little hoof.
“This is our turf, little girls! Leave now or we’ll kick your sweet little tutus to the next way over there!”
The three little angels were quite astounded — and quite surrounded.
Nevertheless, Gracie retained her composure.
“This is our Pawpaw’s house. We are always welcome here. As for you little devils, you are welcome way over there. And thank you very muchly.”
Luna and Rosie moved closer to their big sister, trying their best to be brave.
Grumbles crowed,
“Well, we like it here, thank you not very nicely. And we want you way up there precisely — in the heavens where you belong! Go now before we throw you there headlong!”
Rosie chimed, hands on her hips,
“That not nice!”
Luna whispered,
“Rosie, shh!”
Grumbles deplored, with a wicked grin that went from ear to ear,
“Oh, does the cutesy little dolly talk? How about you all take a walk?”
Snide blustered,
“We do have our pride, you know. And scaring tiny angels isn’t worth much below.”
Gracie said,
“You’re right — we aren’t worth it. I’m sure over there is much more interesting than over here. So why don’t you little devils… scoot and with all sincere?”
Snide denounced,
“We like it here— OUCH!”
For Snip bit him with quite some conviction. Then Snide blurted out some things quite crass, wilting the grass.
And without hint of relent, Grumbles lashed out at the girls with dark discontent.
Naturally, Gracie countered with her holy light, sending the darkness to wherever shadows flee in the bright.
This the little devils do not like!
Especially sneaky sneaks like Sneek, who prefer not showing where they’re going.
Snip, the little biter, bit Snide again—presumably to hold on tighter.
So Snide lashed out with his vile, vicious contempt, sputtering insults that’ll curl your toes!
Nevertheless, the annoying Snip held on like an angry snapping turtle with a purpose.
Rosie laughed at the funny sight, so she didn’t notice when Grumbles sent a wave of discontent straight at her delight.
Oh no, Rosie, watch out!
But alert little Rosie swatted it aside with her Bubble Wand of Love. “Perfect wuv strikes out fear!” The discontent ricocheted wildly, bouncing across the yard and smacking Sneer right in his sass, knocking him flat on the grass.
Snark mocked, “Whoa ho, looky here! The little dolly took out Sneer!”
Sneer spouted, clutching his belly, “That wand of hers is but a toy! But it’s filled with some power — I suspect it’s joy!”
Oh Sneer, if only he could understand. That bubble wand of hers is just a toy. But, unknown to Rosie, the holy power within is her Pawpaw’s tears — which, being the Treasure of God, have been turned to joy.
Rosie's Bubble Wand of Wuv.
Luna twirled and shone, releasing moonbeams of righteous enlightenment, her aim not terrific, for she had no target specific.
One hit Grumbles right on his nose, knocking him off his toes. Another grazed Sneek, causing him to duck just when he wanted to go amok. And yet another hit Snip, right in the back-there, knocking him through the air!
Snip crooned,
“Oh, my tail must protest! My back-there shouldn’t be blessed!”
Grumbles held his nose, now thoroughly acquainted with reality, and said — in a very funny voice —
“Oh no! Now my nose knows the truth! I can smell facticity with perfect accuracy!”
Sneek bemoaned,
“Whoever heard of moonbeams in the daylight…” but before he could finish, Luna edified him with a blast of pure understanding. His eyes widened with sudden clarity — which is not a welcomed landing.
Now, truth be told, if those deficient little devils acted together, our three little angels might not endure their purgation. But the little devils specialized in persistent obduracy and noncooperation.
When Gracie noticed their infernal fragmentation, she shouted,
“Come on, girls, let’s show them what we’ve got!”
Gracie lit up like the sun, Luna beamed with hope, and Rosie let loose a very large mass of bubbles of Wuv. I mean — of Love. Bubbles of Love.
Sneek doubted, “Not bubbles, anything but that!”
But one bubble wobbled towards him resolute and popped in front of his eyes to boot.
“No, not love! Oh my eyes! It stings like understanding,” he sniffed, “with hints of compassion and forgiveness? How upstanding.”
Snark did rebuke,
“Aw, the light! My dreams unfurled! I’m melting! Oh, it’s sagacity I’m belting! What a world, what a world!”
Snide fretted,
“Someone put out that light!”
But then Snip, the little blight, bit him just for spite.
Snide yelped,
“Ow! Snip, you little beast, I do not like you, even in the least!”
So Snip bit him quite distinctly very succinctly.
Sneer jeered,
“You worthless cherubs! Take these altercations!”
And he lashed out at them with fiery darts of petty insults, derisive mockery, and questionable accusations.
Fortunately for Luna and Rosie, Gracie raised her shield of faith.
The darts ricocheted off its holy brightness and struck Sneer right at all the wrong angles.
Grumbles, blinded by the light, tripped over the neighbor’s little merry-go-round and landed face first into the peonies. So unpleasant was this that he started sneezing and wheezing, and a toy calliope crashed to the ground. Whereupon he stepped on it trying to stand back up and landed on his pride.
Snide shouted,
“Let’s get out of here!”
He leapt up before Snip could bite him on the ear and ran off towards the rear.
Exhausted, Sneer disappeared into a puff of bluff.
Gracie’s faith lit up like the Son.
Sneek tried to slink off, into the shadows, but in Gracie’s light there weren’t any in sight. So he slithered off blindly to the nearest hole and deposited himself in fright, waiting for the night.
Of course, Grumbles griped, bemoaned, and limped off to somewhere decidedly not there.
And there was little Snip, staring at three none-too-happy cherubs — he didn’t stand a prayer.
He tried to take a nip at Luna, but Rosie gave him a shove and bipped him with her wand: “Wuv!”
Snip yelped like a puppy and did run.
Somewhere, Snark cried: “Ow! Snip!” and they knew they’d won.
Just when they thought it might be safe to knock on Pawpaw’s door, giant Grumbles reappeared dragging back some things dingy. Sneer, Snide, Snark, and other Lil’ Debils besides: Snub, Scram, Pesky, and even Stingy.
Grumbles squawked,
“Sneek, Snip, get up here if you hold your souls dear!”
The Lil’ Debil gang reassembled like a rabble of rats.
Grumbles made rambling his choice.
He spoke of his malodorous ambitions,
just to hear his own voice,
and that with no contritions.
Naturally, Gracie, Luna, and Rosie were not impressed.
They had absolutely no idea what his empty speech stressed.
Gracie knew they were in a lot of trouble,
She must think of something, and on the double.
But with Grumbles so giant and they so small…
The first thing that came to mind was David and Goliath so tall.
And that gave her a marvelous conception,
She’d give Grumbles a memorable reception.
Gracie pulled from her pocket a cookie from Aunt Bee,
a faithtastic, love-filled cookie, as we shall see.
She took a ribbon from her hair,
and with a bit of flair,
fashioned by faith and care
a sling right then and there.
She swung and slung, and with determination
she found her target with righteous indignation.
“By the sling of David defiant… take this, you Goliath giant!”
And that cookie flew like a virtue-filled meteor of justice — straight into Grumbles’ big, fat frown.
Grumbles was taken completely by delectable surprise.
Naturally, his gang laughed and did anything but advise.
That cookie lodged right down his throat,
completely derailing his endless gloat.
He began choking on the combination
of faith, love, and righteous indignation.
Those little devils were all amused
by his wild faces of discontent.
And the fact his ego was bruised
to an imposing, exaggerated extent,
to the point they were rolling around,
and riotous laughter did abound.
Gracie valued her sisters’ verve —
with just a nod, a quick look,
and a spark of nerve —
and that was all it took.
Luna straightened.
Rosie perked up.
They knew just what to do.
The Lil’ Debils were still laughing at Grumbles’ agony,
while Aunt Bee’s cookie assaulted his lack of integrity.
Gracie loaded another faithtastic cookie into her sling.
Luna wrapped a moonbeam around one with a ribbon of hope.
Rosie bipped her cookie with extra love
and held hers high in her Bubble Wand —
locked, loaded, and delicious.
And quite suspicious.
Then little Luna shouted with much enthusiasm and edification,
“King David Cookie Barrage Attack!”
Rosie chimed in,
“Take that, you Goliaths!”
The three little girls whirled and twirled and launched a holy cookie barrage of righteousness.
Probably the first one in history, so remember to take pictures.
Cookies flew through the air like rockets of comedic precision —
bouncing, spinning, ricocheting, and landing right in the laughing little devils’ mouths.
One cookie hit Snark square in the teeth.
Another smacked Sneer right in the cheeks.
Yet another bounced off Snide’s forehead and landed neatly between Snip’s lips. Before he could protest, one of Rosie’s missiles deployed into his smirk!
Grumbles finally swallowed the projectile and groaned,
“Oh, my tummy… the cookie’s unfortunately condoned!”
Sneer cried,
“Such warmth and peace inside! With serenity I cannot abide!”
Snide clutched his stomach and burped,
“I’m digesting kindness! My badness is usurped!”
Sneek rolled around like a barrel,
“I can’t sneak! I’m too full of comfort and joy!”
And he broke out singing tidings from a famous carol!
Snark stared at the sky,
“I feel gratitude… someone help me before I die!”
And poor little Snip whined,
“So delicious, how auspicious! My pockets protest… who would have guessed?”
And you shouldn’t guess what the other little devils did express!
Each one of those brats tried to declare some “you‑shouldn’t‑say‑thats,” but out came no obscenities — only blessings, cookie crumbs, and an assortment of other amenities.
As remarkable as it seems, Pawpaw’s yard was full of moaning little misbehaves,
lying flat on their backs with swollen bellies — those silly, cookie‑stricken knaves.
None managed to spit their cookies out so profoundly judicious,
for secretly, they were oh so righteously delicious.
Shh!
Grumbles tried one more time. He clutched his belly and loudly promulgated,
“May joy find you… Oh, someone help me — with wholesomeness I am fated!”
Snip hiccuped,
“May your pockets be full of… Oh no, my pockets!”
Gracie knew this wouldn’t last long, but she had a plan. She stepped forward, hands folded, her halo glowing with gentle authority.
“Alright, little devils,” she said sweetly, “time for your last rites.”
Luna feigned a dramatic gasp.
Rosie giggled.
The Lil’ Debils panicked.
Gracie opened her tiny Bible and began reading verses from Psalms over them — her voice soft, steady, and holy.
She started with Psalm 91:
“Surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.”
The noisy little pestilences — the Lil’ Debils — screamed, squealed, howled, and hooted.
So Gracie walked among them like a miniature chaplain of righteousness, blessing each miserable little devil with particular Bible verses.
While the Lil’ Debils flopped about indignantly, Luna whispered something to Gracie, and she nodded in agreement.
Then Luna whispered to Rosie, who, without delay, began pulling out cookies one by one, charging them with extra love from her Bubble Wand and depositing them into the nearest little devil’s mouth.
“And one for you, and one for you, and one for you…” Rosie continued, while Luna pinned them down with her moonbeams infused with hope.
Amazingly, the Lil’ Debils could not resist the wholesome goodness of Aunt Bee’s famous faithtastic cookies.
When Sneer realized that the rosy little toddler was marching toward him with a Wuv-charged cookie and a smile full of determination, well… that was enough. And too much.
Off Sneer snuck to the suburbs of Skedaddle.
Rosie blinked at his disappearance.
“Well, how rude!” And then she headed toward Snip.
She took a bite, nodded approvingly, and promptly deposited the rest into Snip’s snipping little mouth.
Oh, for what joy he did feel,
For this cookie was more than real!
And in his delight, he could not spit it out —
But down it went without a doubt!
Snip gasped,
“Aw! And oh no! And oh my and oh dear! It’s time for me to get out of here!”
And off he went with considerable urgency.
The remaining Lil’ Debils saw this and did not hesitate.
They slinked, stumbled, waddled, and groaned their way toward any other state.
For cookies filled with “Wuv” were more than they could bear,
So off they shoved to the doors of Heck’s Urgent Don’t‑care.
The witch doctors there all concurred —
This was no time for magic to conjure.
No time to cogitate, speculate, or deliberate —
For Aunt Bee’s cookies they must eliminate!
And so the three happy little angels did celebrate,
That the Lil’ Debils’ defeat they did orchestrate.
Though truth be told, they did not fight,
Nor did they chase them through the night.
They simply fed them cookies filled with “Wuv” and grace—
and off the Lil’ Debils fled at a rather remarkable pace.
And so, the three little angels finally got to visit their beloved Pawpaw. Meanwhile, the Lil’ Debils were admitted to emergency faith, hope, love, and joy extraction surgeries.
Imaginably, with the Psalms still ringing in their ears and stitches on their tummies, they won’t be revisiting Pawpaw’s place anytime soon.
Meanwhile down in the Heck’s Infirmity “Urgent” Don’t-care…
Snip: “One more… one more cookie!”
Witch doctor: “I’m afraid he’s gone mad. He’s hooked on Aunt Bee’s cookies. It’s hopeless, really, but we’ll give him a few more bonks on the head —”
Snide: “OW! He bit me!”
Snip: “Cookie!”
Ladies Grace, Luna, and Rose
