If You Were

(an old but dear-to-me picture; the boys were cheering up a sulking sister with dandelions)

We had our first official poetry reading for "tea-time Thursday" today.  I got the idea from Bravewriter, I just love her stuff.   The way we're supposed to do it is with our best china (don't have any, whoops we're ruined!), tea (lemonade or milk for us), and cookies (no problem here).  Then, in a nutshell,  you snack while reading / sharing poetry. 

Cherith shared a poem from my new favorite book, The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett:

"If You Were"

If you were busy being kind,
Before you knew it, you would find
You'd soon forget to think 'twas true
That someone was unkind to you.

If you were busy being glad,
And cheering people who are sad,
Although your heart might ache a bit,
You'd soon forget to notice it.

If you were busy being good,
And doing just the best you could,
You'd not have time to blame some man
Who's doing just the best he can.

If you were busy being right,
You'd find yourself too busy quite
To criticize your neighbor long
Because he's busy being wrong.

It was the highlight of our tea-time that isn't really tea time.  The kids decided they wanted to memorize it.   I'm thinking about trying to live it.  ;)

*milk cheers*