Sound to Sea

“We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.” bcp 836

Have you ever been to the Trinity Center?

This week, I traveled there with twenty-three fifth graders, two teachers, and five chaperones to the middle of Bogue Banks, where the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Carolina’s maintains a beautiful conference center nestled between the Bogue Sound and Atlantic Ocean. 

For decades, Episcopal Day School has taken its fifth graders to the “Sound to Sea” environmental education program.  Over three days the kids wade in brackish sound waters, crawl across the sandy shoreline like sea turtles, wander through maritime woods, and discover unique wildlife that thrives along North Carolina’s coast.  It was a joy to experience this adventure with them. 

Throughout the week, I kept returning to this prayer of thanksgiving from the book of common prayer: “We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.”

At night, as the waves rolled endlessly toward the shore, the splendor of a cosmos stretched in quiet majesty.  In the woods, the beauty of this world shown as trees twisted by years of misty salt spray. In my palm, a tiny snail emerged from its shell to dance to my humming—a small wonder of life.

And then that mystery of love: the delight of children surrounded by friends, learning, growing, achieving what they once thought impossible. 

It was, in every way, a week to be thankful for.