putting faith in the ebony bodhisattva

Avalokiteśvara -- the bodhisattva of compassion -- sits inconspicuously and squarely on the low kitchen cart.  The five inch bodhisattva is dwarfed by the towering ten-cup Cuisinart to the left, and by half a dozen mundane jars of coffee, tea, sugar and whatnot to the right.  Next to the cart is the expansive window that looks out on the backyard -- a raw garden that had been largely laid to waste, yet in spite of which, is displaying lush greens and occasional hues of spring.  At first glance, it is not the most obvious place to set up the family altar on which sits the bodhisattva, a highly revered and possibly most worshipped lord of Buddhism.  But being not obvious is largely what praying, genuine praying is all about.