Always Love: Gladys

When I started this blog one of my objectives was to share the stories of people who had passed back in to spirit.  They love to share their wisdom as people who are ahead of us on the path, so to speak.  Having had the opportunity to look back and learn from experience, they want us to benefit from that knowledge, as well.  Gladys is one of those lovely people in spirit.  In fact, she not only likes to help us, she’s made it her job.

Gladys actually showed up several months before I finally realized why she was here.  I sensed her presence and assumed I would soon be doing a reading for someone she knows.  That happens a lot:  Someone in spirit shows up and within a few days I meet the person they’re connected to.  But nobody “claimed” Gladys.  In reading after reading, I would say I had this person here named Gladys, ask if they knew her, and the answer was always “No.” I finally sat down to chat with her, one-on-one, and she informed me that she had responded to my request for people in spirit to help and to share their stories.  She didn’t have anyone specific she wanted to talk to; rather, she came to me so that she could reach a broader audience via my blog.  She said she wanted to help me, and I could help her, so this was truly a win:win for both of us.  I was delighted!

Gladys presents herself to me as an African American woman in her early 50s.  She tells me she lived in the northeastern part of Alabama, not too far from the Tennessee border.  In the 1930s, Gladys worked as a housekeeper for a white family.  She tells me racial tensions made life difficult for people of color, but she found ways to transcend those barriers in her own life, and that having those experiences was essential to her soul’s growth.  Gladys said her mission now is to help people on the physical plane communicate with people in spirit.

In terms of how she “feels” to me, Gladys is a wonderful, light-filled and loving spirit who exudes an incredible warmth and peace about her.  When I feel her energy, it’s like having a warm, fuzzy blanket wrapped around me.  I find her wisdom very inspiring, and I hope you will, too.  Here’s what Gladys shared with me:

“There’s a great desire here to connect with the loved ones on the physical plane.  And we know it’s hard there; you need encouragement.  God is much bigger than I ever understood when I was on earth.  Much bigger, grander, and truly loves and accepts everyone.   My job is to help people understand that. There are others like me, and we like to work with mediums because they are a gateway for us in spirit to communicate.

We attend church services, we go to synagogues, we go to shrines, we go wherever people are congregating in the name of love and we lend support.  I love going to churches because that’s something I enjoyed when I was in physical form.  But there are many religious faiths and if they are practiced with love and respect, then I am supportive.  I do not support any groups, even Christian churches, that preach hatred or separateness, because I know that is not the nature of things.

[On earth] I gave love and I got it in return.  I wasn’t as bold as others about pushing back, but by being loving I found people responded to me that way, even during times as bad as segregation.  When you connect at the heart level it redefines the relationship even if the outside world has rules you’re supposed to follow.  I had the love of the white woman I worked for, Hattie.  She was an employer but she was a friend, and I know she would’ve done anything for me and I would’ve done anything for her.  I now know we have known each other for a long time. We’ve had other lives together. And when I passed back in to spirit she was there for me.”

I asked her if there was something she particularly wanted us to understand:

“Remember there is nobleness in service.  It does not amount to a life wasted.  See the divine in every moment.  Even house cleaning is a spiritual act when it’s done with love.  Keep a kind and loving heart and it will melt icebergs.  It will truly knock down walls. Don’t hold bitterness in your heart.  See the good in everyone and they will see the good in you.  Even in hard times I had love and that buoyed me.

When you return to spirit you understand the power of love, because you not only believe it, you see it.  You can see the energy radiating from feelings like hatred, anger and frustration and it is very different and heavier than the energy of love, compassion and peace.  That energy is lighter, it is luminous, it is beautiful, and it is far- reaching – more far- reaching than anything you can possibly imagine on the physical plane.

Hold love in your heart and you’ll transcend the dark clouds of those lower emotions.  If you don’t, they literally keep you down.  We can see that from where we are. We try to help those individuals but it’s hard – it’s difficult to get past that, it’s like hitting interference.  Where there is love, there is greater receptivity to our energy.  Those lower emotions close doors; those higher ones open them.”

I’m so thankful for Folks Upstairs like Gladys.  She’s one of the reasons I just love my job.