OFFSPRINGING

     In our blended family, Delycia and I have five children and four grandchildren – our “offspring”, to use an old-fashioned word – but I’ve been thinking this morning about another kind of offspring we might lay claim to – our thoughts and spoken words. After all, we, in a sense, “give birth” to thoughts and words all day long, sort of sending them out into the world as the creations – the “children” – of our minds. Each day, thousands of newborn thoughts are brought forth in our minds, and, somewhat like children, they instantly start making their presence felt. They mix with other thoughts, making more new thoughts, and then perhaps new spoken words to be newly delivered to the world. Just in the last few days, we have given birth to thousands of these full-of-life thoughts and words, these short-lived offspring that materialize in innocence and wholesomeness and help us share our lives with each other and the world.