June 2006

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Near the small town of Laurel Springs, North Carolina, there is a camping and conference center, Laurel Ridge, owned and operated by the Moravian Church. For a number of years my mother's family had its annual reunion at Laurel Ridge, on a Sunday afternoon in mid-July. We had to relocate after a church event needed the space that same weekend each year.

Laurel Springs is in the northern mountains of the state, and the campground has lovely views of the surrounding mountains. It's a peaceful place, and when I've been there I've appreciated that the church took care to leave so much of the grounds undisturbed. It is possible to stand nearly anywhere on the grounds and see open space and trees, with as few buildings as possible and those built of materials that blend in.

Outside the lodge building we used for our gatherings is a grassy area that has in it several small mounds. And every time I've seen them, I've been filled with the notion that they might very well be God's own mud pies, deliberately left to remind us of the simpler parts of childhood.

It just looks like the sort of peaceful spot where Our Holy Parent could sit watching over all the world, patting out mounds of dirt, with the knowledge that children of all ages would at least stop to notice them, if not stop and play a bit.

I'm sure my geologist friends could give a scientifically correct answer regarding these land masses. But I like my answer better.