Hidden in Plain Sight...

   Prohibited from photographing inside the buildings at the Canterbury Shaker Village, I went in search of exterior images.  I do love the simplicity and symmetry of the building facades but nothing really spoke to me until I notice this little robins nest above the door of the building where I'd spoken to Sister Bertha all those years ago.  It was the dangling bit of grass and fluff, blowing in the breeze, that drew my attention to it.  Sheltered beneath an overhang, the nest was in clear view for anyone who bothered to look up.

   So many of the images I receive are like this little nest, hidden in plain sight.  No one else who walked by the door while I was there looked up at it and I think Sister Bertha would have appreciated this metaphor.  The Shakers lived apart from the world but in plain view for anyone who took the time to stop.  They practiced open armed hospitality taking many poor people in and sheltering them when the weather turned cold.  They knew full well that they would leave in the Spring just as the baby robins did.  "Winter Shakers" they were called.  It didn't matter to them.

   Contemplative images are often "hidden in plain sight" and when you open your heart to them you will find them.  Limitations or restrictions don't matter, the images you need to receive will be there.  Slow down and look up....