Good advice from my childhood re: bad thoughts:

"You can't keep a bird from landing on your head...but you don't have to let him build a nest!"

Art credit: The Birds Nest by Sophie Gengembre Anderson

"Where words fail, music speaks."
--Hans Christian Andersen

Art credit: Zwei Singende Junge Madchen by Minna Heeren

"Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.

"Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.

"Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love."

--Reinhold Nieburh

Art credit: Late Afternoon by Hans Andersen Brendekilde

"They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts."
--Sir Philip Sidney

Art credit: A Daydream by Edward Poynter

"Joy, the end and purpose of human existence, involves several preconditions... God aspires to create a universe teeming with possibility, change, development, and variety... God purposes to foster a universe--and a human realm--that is rich in diversity, difference, and alternatives, and that also teems with growth, novelty and change...statis is synonymous with sameness, stagnation, death and purposelessness.

"Growth, flourishing, and human joy all require the vibrancy of a free soul choosing among numerous options... To 'prove,' in nineteenth century usage, is to ascertain or evaluate the truth or value of something by means of comparison or experiment. In other words, no value emerges in a vacuum; meaning can only appear, truth can only reveal itself, by virtue of our experience of contrary aspects of reality."

"A universe in which such sets of contraries are absent does not bear thinking about"
---Terryl Givens

Art credit: De Leie in Astene by Emile Claus

"Man must be arched and buttressed from within, else the temple wavers to the dust."
--Marcus Aurelius

Art credit: Interior of a Church by Daniel de Blieck

"Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean."
--Goethe

Art credit: Girl With Broom in Doorway by James Wells Champney

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily tasks, go to sleep in peace....God is awake."
--Victor Hugo

Art credit: Mother and Child by Christian Krohg

"God grants liberty only to those who love it . . . "
--Daniel Webster

Art Credit: The Fourth of July, 1916, by Childe Hassam

I was just looking at all the spices in my cupboard and thinking that the riches so many explorers were after were spices. I am pretty rich! Magellan's ship finished its trip around the world loaded with cloves. Black pepper and later salt was treated almost like gold.

So I asked myself why? And then I thought how bland food is without the spices. Maybe let your kids try a meal or two with no spices or flavorings added and ask them what if that's what they had to eat all the time.

Then my brain made a connection. Life without the Arts is like food without the spices. Yeah, you can survive, but it's not nearly as delicious.

Art credit: The Spice Shop by Antonio Barbieri