The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
     – Galileo *

Though the summer seems meant for leisure, sometimes it is also jam-packed with priorities that seem to compete. Fortunately, we have the most splendid example before us: our very own star.

The loop of energy that pulls the earth into orbit ultimately streams outward, to grow our food and light our way. These aren’t three different entries on the sun’s to-do list – it’s all part of one elegant, powerful process.

Dear Honeybees, as we hold all of our own personal planets in orbit this summer, look! The grapes are ripening too.

Maybe things don’t need as much effort as we suppose.

Maybe we are more powerful than we think.

* paraphrase from Salviati in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, 1632