Visions of Hope

Wow. Was Monday really the last time I posted? With the book deadline looming at the end of the month, it's getting harder to have enough time to post. Maybe next month things will lighten up a bit.
On the way to writing that whole thing about the bird crap on the car window, I got sidetracked into collecting pictures of Mary and Jesus in various everyday items. There's really quite an impressive array out there, and I doubt I got them all. Here's a few people say are of the Virgin Mary:

On a grilled cheese sandwich:

On a tree:

On a pancake:
On a grape:

In a window:

On a pizza pan:
On a turtle:
There are more, but I think that's enough for now.
It's an interesting phenomenon. Nobody actually knows what Mary looked like. We have no drawings. Just some artists' imaginations from hundreds of years ago. Yet people can't stop seeing things that they identify as the Virgin. Itseems to be a group think kind of thing.
It's also interesting that there has been such a spate of sightings in recent times. Believers would say that's because we're in the End Times. I think maybe it's because we're stressed and looking for comfort. Signs and visions of optimism.
I'm not a Roman Catholic, so the idea of Mary doesn't have much resonance for me. And Jesus and God, who might have comforted me in the past, have now become authority figures who want to bully me into a particular brand of politics.
But I was totally captivated with the idea of the bird crap heron. Once I started reading about animal and nature symbolism, my brain grabbed hold and wouldn't let go. Is the heron my totem and is it trying to tell me something? (A few weeks ago, I probably would have said the dolphin is my totem.)
Did a wise bird really try to send me a message about optimism and patience by sh*tting on my car window? Wouldn't it be cool if that was true?
It's a dream and I know it. But to be an optimist, you have to be able to dream.