EVERYDAY SHRINES

"Shrine in the Mist"
watercolor
by Shanti Marie

    If a shrine is a special spot set aside for attention and respect, a place somehow blessed and worthy of admiration, then it seems to me there are shrines wherever I go. Even at our favorite supermarket, I could pause just about anywhere to silently praise the orderliness of the shelves, the courteous attentiveness of the store’s workers, and especially – I must admit –the pleasing display of my favorite frozen yogurt flavors. I could simply pause, as I would at a shrine, and say to myself, with a smile, “It’s good for me to be here”. Just driving in the car also takes me past countless special places, as worthy of wonder and esteem as shrines in churches. I could pull to the roadside and stop just about anywhere to pay my respects – to a stand of springtime trees, to the surprising beauty of an old, beat-up bridge, to a group of workers waiting at the bus stop. These are not “holy” things in the religious sense; they are special and deserving of appreciation simply because they are there, standing in their uniqueness in the here and now. They are some of our everyday and everywhere shrines. If I had a hat on, I could take it off and bow to give the gift of honest respect.