"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."

--An old astronomer to his pupil

Art credit: Kyrkrodd, Dalarna by Bengt Nordenberg

"Love paints the pictures, writes the poems, sings the songs, bears the burdens, and does all the great and abiding deeds."

--Richard Wyches

​Art credit: June Sunlight by Joseph deCamp

"Anything will give up its secrets, if you love it long enough."
--George Washington Carver

​Art credit: De Vlinders by August Allebe

"If instead of a gem or even a flower, we could cast the gift of a lovely thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as angels give."

-- George MacDonald

Art credit: Strazny Andel by Frantisek Dvorak

"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

Art credit: Junge Mutter by Albert Anker

I was reminiscing with my family this morning about living in the 'olden days' when there were no skinless, boneless chicken breasts to cook with. I remember a RS homemaking night that taught us how to remove bones from chicken, but it was too hard. I rarely cooked chicken recipes.

Then my 98 year old mother posted this in our family group:
"My mother had to clean the insides out of the chicken (after my dad killed it and hung it up to bleed). Then she defeathered it, cut it in pieces and cooked it. The defeathering was before the gutting. I never learned to cook at home. Wonder why?"

If there is nothing else in your life today that you are grateful for, take a moment and be grateful for boneless, skinless chicken breasts!

(Unless you are a vegetarian, of course. If I lived in my mother's day, I think that's exactly what I would have been. Or starved.)

Art credit: Plucking the Fowl by William Henry Hunt

"You cannot force children to learn anything, but you can so present a thing to them that you will arouse their interest and cause them to undertake the subject of their own free will."
--Harriet Seymours

Art credit: Le Nouveau Decor by Paul Seignac

"To allow a child to grow up without planting a seed or rearing a plant is a crime against civilized society."
-- Clifton F. Hodge

"People can learn to love from flowers..."
--From The Hiding Place

Art credit: Children in the Garden by Wladyslaw Podkowinski

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon--instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today."

--Dale Carnegie

Art credit: The Soul of the Rose by Waterhouse

"It was not an untutored nor an ignorant world that battled long agonizing years on the shell-cratered no-man's land; but on the contrary, it was the so-called educated world that shot the deadly missiles, sank the defenseless in the briny deeps, bombed the cities, and tortured and maimed the millions of the flowers of the nations.

"But were they really educated in the true sense of the word?

"They had the power of knowledge, but lacked the development of the moral and spiritual side, the lack of which permitted them to use their knowledge toward the destruction of mankind, instead of further teaching of the peoples of the universe, making them prosperous, happy, and contented."

--Spencer W. Kimball

Next time you get down on yourself because your kids aren't scoring on level in math or reading comprehension, remember that isn't your primary objective.

You are developing their moral and spiritual side so that they will use their skills for creation, not destruction.

(And if you know the poem In Flander's Fields, you'll know why the image of the poppies...)