Heart Shaped Love From Heaven
The spring before my sister Nancy died, I took a series of beautiful pictures of my Chaenomeles flowers that bloom in the spring. The flowers are related to quinces, and this year their petals appeared to come together shaped as a heart through the lens of my camera.
Like anyone who loves taking photos, I knew immediately that I was being blessed by the God of Photography and I gave thanks for two things. I thanked heaven for digital photography - it would have cost me a fortune developing my small picture pot of gold. And I also gave thanks to the heavens above for the beautiful subject they helped me to notice that day.
Shortly after taking those one-of-a-kind pictures, the same heart-shaped sign made another appearance in the beginning of the summer.
Looking back, I always felt those heart shapes were more significant than just a photo by the feelings within me when I photographed the first perfect one. I also felt the same way that day when I made a visit to my parents’ gravesite. That visit gave me another blessing - my second sighting of hearts and the intuitive idea that someone I loved was behind it.
While sitting on the grass at my parents’ gravesite, I looked up at the sky and noticed a cloud up above me shaped like a perfect big heart. Immediately I ran to my car to get my camera. But before I could take a picture, the fluffy cloud faded and disappeared into a sky of natural blue.
Oh, how I wished I could have gotten a picture of that magnificent heart-shaped cloud. I wanted so badly to show it to my sisters. I knew they would also feel it was a sign.
Disappointed I had no evidence to back up my story, I started clearing overgrown weeds and grass away from my dad’s military plaque. Before I left, I decided to take a picture of my work.
As I looked through the lens focusing the camera in on the plaque, I noticed one clover leaf sticking out near a corner, waiting to be noticed. The clover was forming the shape of a heart. And even though it was very clear I had missed cleaning this one spot, it was also evident my long-awaited sign wanted to be noticed for a second time. Clovers automatically make the shape of a heart when shaded or when going to sleep at night.
For years after being graced with butterflies from my mom, I had wished and prayed for a sign from our dad who died in 1975. And while I knew he was always safe and that he still loved us – this visual sign was a message of hope that he was watching over us. And the heart-shaped beauties I was seeing and photographing were speaking messages of love.
Today it is not uncommon to not only be followed by lots of butterflies that appear out of nowhere – they have even followed my car out of people’s driveways - but to also find heart-shaped rocks on trails, beaches, clouds, foliage and flowers. And while it does not surprise me as much as it used to, I always enjoy seeing them and photographing the evidence. Giving thanks for the ones I do see always brings more sightings and more miracle stories.
When you wish or pray for signs from heaven or desire a message from a loved one who is no longer with you – make sure to watch for them. I have spoken to more than one person who will tell me the same exact story I just told you about a person they love with perhaps a different sign from up above. And I have heard amazing stories that I never doubt are true because I believe that heaven is not only a better place but it is not as far away as we may think it to be.