There still exists the idea that God is somehow separate from life, as though I am a concession stand on the corner somewhere or I'm a faraway stranger on a street in a faraway land that you give alms to. Or perhaps you see Me as a slot machine you feed coins into that pays off now and again.

But I am not separate from your life. I am not separate from you. I am not an aside. I am certainly not a stranger. I am not an outsider. Far from it.

As you were born into the extant world, I was borne with you. There is no entrance anywhere without Me. And there is no exit from Me. I am part and parcel of you.

I am called by many names. God is one of them. I will not list them all, but take your pick.

One of My favorite names for Myself is Joy, not to be confused with entertainment. I am a kind of joy that you are full of. You have to notice. Come out of that reserved place within you, and take a good peek.

Where does joy exist if not within you?

Certainly, outside events can incept it, but joy can only come from you. You are the storehouse of joy, only, it is not to be stored.

Joy is not quite something you spend either, for there is no expenditure with joy.

You may have veered from joy. You took an unnecessary detour. You thought there was something more urgent. You served other gods, one called Seriousness, another called Piety, another called Addiction, another called Sorrow.

It is as if you took an exquisite piece of wood and distressed it, thinking you made it more valuable. Of course, the surface scratches don't touch the core of wood. The scratches are merely superimposed. They will erode. They can only erode.

You are not supposed to take scraps of patchwork and call them life. The whole quilt of life is yours. I made it for you, and I gave it to you. Joy is woven within.

By what right do you deny joy? You are to substitute nothing for it. There is no stand-in for joy. Anything else can only be an imposter. Imposters all. When you can have the real thing, why would you take bogus?

You, the one I speak to, are a palace of joy. Is your palace in disuse? Have you closed it down for the winter you call life? Open the shutters. There never was call to close them.

Life is Spring more than any other season. There are infinite beginnings in life. Perhaps you have skirted them.

You who are full of joy have no reason not to partake of it. Joy is not harder than sorrow. Sorrow is merely an overlay. Remove it, and joy will bounce up.

You feel you have much reason for sorrow. You like to think you do. You may embrace sorrow, describing how hard it is. When you feel filled with sorrow, perhaps you are hardening your heart to joy.

Open the blinds and let joy come out every day like the sun rising in the east. Wave joy out from the inner recesses of your throbbing heart. Let your heart beat joy. Do not tamp down your joy any longer. Joy fits you very well, better than sorrow.

One of My names is Joy. I am here. I am here.