This weekend I happened upon a beach full of seashells, heaped in great piles like some sort of salty sunny Aladdin’s cave. The abundance was astonishing, and unsettling. At first I stood dazed and dazzled. Then I started darting from pile to pile, sure that the next one was somehow better than the one I had already visited. Others had similar reactions, stuffing bags full of souvenirs until they were staggering under the weight. A sort of giddy greediness floated in the air.

After a little while, I slowed down enough to appreciate a few individual shells, marveling at the perfect Fibonacci spirals at their hearts and at the way that such strong, gorgeous structures emerge from nothing but calcium carbonate and protein. I picked one favorite. Then another. Then another. Finally I sat still and sighed with the wonder of it all.

Friends, we are surrounded by the abundance of our world.

May our greed give way to gratitude.

May we treasure each tiny element,

and the miracles within.