My only sister Mary and her husband Doug purchased our family home. An ongoing topic of conversation between Mary and our Dad was how to decorate the front room. Then, in January 2004, Dad was hospitalized with a heart complication. One day he called Mary from the hospital and suggested that she bring Grandpa O’Neill’s old rocking chair down from the attic and put it in the room. He also suggested that she go with an antique theme… maybe an old mirror or a lamp. This was what he remembered of his old childhood home, growing up on a farm in Wisconsin.
Grandpa’s rocking chair was the first piece of furniture in the room. While Dad was in and out of the hospital that month, he would come over and sit in it. He was proud to have it in that room.
Days after Dad passed away in February 2004, our mom found a necklace that portrayed the Five Mysteries of Ireland. The first mystery was represented by the Celtic Trinity Knot. The Trinity Knot is a Christian symbol that stands both for the Trinity and Eternity. Mom loved this necklace so much that she bought one for Mary and one for each of her four daughters-in-law.
A couple of weeks after Dad died, Mary went to an antique shop. She was hoping to find some more pieces of furniture for the living room. She spotted an old, three-bulb candelabra lamp in one corner of the store, which she paired up with a lamp shade in a completely different corner. She thought they looked perfect together.
When she brought them to the checkout, the lady told her that the shade ruined the look of the lamp, that they did not match, and that they, in fact, looked awful together!
But Mary loved it, so she bought it. When she got it home and placed it next to Grandpa’s rocking chair, the main light worked, 
but the three candelabra lights did not. It didn’t matter. She was delighted with the new addition.
About a week later, Mary’s daughter Molly asked if she could go and play in the front room. Mary told her to turn the lights on.
A while later, Mary’s husband Doug got up from the couch and walked down the hall by the front living room. He couldn’t believe what he saw. He yelled out, “Mary!”
Mary immediately thought something was wrong. She came running.
Doug said, “There! Look! On the ceiling!”
Mary stood in stunned silence.
The lamp’s three bulb candelabra had come on for the first time, and the lamp shade was somehow projecting the Trinity Knot symbol onto the ceiling! It was like Dad wanted to let us know he was still sitting in that chair, and that he will be for eternity.
We know that this is our Dad’s way of saying he is still with us every day of our lives. We love you Dad!
Purchase the beautiful instrumental to this story now.
Get your BOARDING PASS now and receive full access to this journey. It’s fast, free and secure!
What’s Your Story?
