Joy

orange flower with butterfly

I just sat down and read my post on Mom’s message about eternity. Not only did it bring me to tears as I felt her come close to me, but I realized that I never wrote about her message from beyond the veil about joy…nearly four years ago! “You need to do that,” she says over my shoulder, “It’s about time.”

I remember the two weeks after we returned from her memorial. I rarely get sick, but I was laid up on the couch that whole time, sick as a dog with a sinus infection. My husband needed surgery for a hernia gone wrong and was also laid up. The house was quiet most days as I listened for her voice.

Then it happened. I saw her in Spirit, beaming. But…what were those wet and crinkly things hanging off her back? I watched in fascination as they dried and unfurled into huge, magnificent wings. I mean HUGE! Like a giant butterfly’s wings. And they flowed like a sparkling, colorful bridal train behind her. “Wow,” I told her, “your wings are spectacular!” She smiled and giggled, then turned to look behind her.

I tried to see what she was looking at, but it was so far away. Vaguely I could see her physical body, crumpled up and small in the distance, darkened by her radiant presence. “That body never was big enough to hold all of me,” she said with a smile.

“I want to you to know that everything is fine now, Honey. I am filled with so much joy, so much more than you can imagine. And I want to tell you something important. So important that you must share it with everyone you can. Joy…THIS joy…is available to everyone. It is held out with open hands for anyone to take freely. So why is there so much sorrow and pain in the world? Nothing in the world can bring you this joy, and many just don’t know that it’s available. But it is the barriers we build within us that prevent us from receiving it. So here’s what I have to say. WE build those barriers and it’s we who must remove them. Look within, and see where you have raised barriers to pain, heartbreak, regrets…whatever they may be. And wherever you find a barrier to the joy you could have…TEAR IT DOWN!!! I’m serious. It’s not going to hurt you. It’s not going to hurt anyone else. Break down all the barriers to joy and it will fill you up. Tell your friends.”

It’s that simple. Some barriers might be harder to take down than others, but every one that comes down is like a dam bursting. And joy will flood your soul as far as the remaining barriers will allow, making it easier to remove the next one.