Fecundity!

It's not often that a person gets to use the word fecundity! Yet that is what the month of June has offered me. In case you don't want to look it up . . . fecundity - fruitfulness in offspring or vegetation : prolific; intellectually productive or inventive to a marked degree Offspring--Doug and I have visited with so many loved ones over the past month. Doug's daughter and her family in Alabama--especially good to see our granddaughter, Ellen, who was on leave before being posted to Naval Base San Diego. Doug's son, Jeremy, and his wife and daughters came for a visit on their way to Connecticut to visit their sailor son, JT. We spent time with Doug's son, Chris and his wife, Heather in Atlanta. I was able to watch streaming video of my son, Aaron's, graduation, where he received his Master's of National Security and Strategy. We spent a long weekend in High Point watching (in between thunderstorms) our grandson, Nate, play baseball in Pony League All Stars. Really, I can't remember so much family in so little time ever! Vegetation--the garden is producing! We have just begun harvesting squash and cucumbers--the tomatoes will take a while. But the berries! Red raspberries--a whole patch of them, from just three little plants given to me by Ernie Bentley two years ago. And lovely blackberries (no thorns!). We have been eating berries on cereal, in yogurt, and--you guessed it--in homemade ice cream! And the freezer is filling up. Berries really do seem like a gift from God. Once you put them in the ground, they just come, every summer, no effort needed except the picking and the eating. Intellectually productive--Yes, that, too! I have digested more books than I could list here, and have even delved into the Greek New Testament--which is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for me, since I have forgotten more Greek than I ever learned! I have to say that the "input" side of the sabbatical has been full of fecundity, but, so far, the output is small--at least in any measurable way. I suppose the prolific material I have read has to percolate for a while. I need to consider what kind of output I want from all this information. Should it be a book, an online course, some kind of audio or video production? And how shall I share my learnings with all of you? Matters for thinking. I would add one more aspect of fecundity--the blessing of time with my dear husband, Doug. In the normal course of events, we really don't see much of one another, and I'm grateful for these long days together--whether we are reading or driving or packing or visiting. It's a joy to be together. So June, thanks for the fecundity! And thanks be to God, who gives good gifts!