Sometimes we get a sudden message from spirit when we least expect it, but need it most.
One afternoon in early summer, my kids and I were swimming and playing games in the water. Out of nowhere, a beautiful yellow and black swallowtail butterfly began hovering over our heads and flew back and forth between two flower pots located on either side of the pool. It was as though this butterfly was trying to get our attention as she kept flying just over our heads to get to the flower pot on the other side. I had a feeling this butterfly was a messenger from the other side and I told my kids I felt this butterfly was here to give us a hello from my beloved grandmother who passed away many years ago. My kids were so excited about the butterfly being so close to us and they started saying, “hello yiayia” (yiayia is Greek for grandma.)
For about 5 minutes, we kept greeting this butterfly as she flew around us and then, as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared beyond the tall trees. We waited for her to fly back that day but she did not. I was extremely grateful for this message but, even more so, I was grateful that my girls felt the beautiful energy of my grandmother’s strong and courageous spirit. We were lucky enough to have captured this experience on video because my husband was able to record quite a bit of our encounter.
A few weeks later, I was writing a chapter for a book about various women’s life stories. This particular chapter was challenging for me to write because I was writing about my life story, particularly some of the not so happy parts of my childhood with physical abuse. As I was writing, deleting, and rewriting this part of my life, I heard a tick on the window right next to where I was sitting. I quickly glanced over to my right and saw the same yellow and black butterfly hovering on the other side of the window staring at me for a good 3 seconds which felt like an eternity. I knew this was another message from my grandmother again and I intuitively heard the message, “Tell the story!” I couldn’t help but cry as I knew my grandmother came to support me and to give me the strength to write about something so difficult. I felt so blessed and so supported in that moment that I was able to complete the chapter that same day.
As I recalled this experienced I got to thinking about how spirit always supports us as long as we are willing to receive the support in random and unexpected ways. We cannot control how spirit will connect with us, or how they will send us a message, but we can be open to receiving the messages when they do come through by not overthinking and overanalyzing them. I’ve learned the best way to receive messages from spirit is to trust your intuition, trust your feelings and trust your heart. Whenever you need some extra support and love, simply ask and see what happens!
I haven’t seen that butterfly since, but I’m certain my grandmother will find other ways to give me messages when I most need to hear them, as she has always done. That butterfly reminded me that I am never alone and that the universe always has my back!