In Others’ Words: From Here to Eternity

Beth VogtUncategorized 4 Comments

I’ve mulled over Thomas Merton’s words for several days now. “Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul.”  I usually stay away from generalizations like that — careful not to use words like “every” and “all” in statements. But I don’t believe Merton is overstating the truth here. I think we overlook …

In Others’ Words: Life Anchors

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, perspective, Quotes 6 Comments

  “You have to be careful what you anchor your emotions to.” I was talking to a friend  a few weeks ago when those words came out of my mouth. She looked at me and said, “That’s a blog post!” And I’ve been mulling what I said ever since then — about how I need to be careful what I …

In Others’ Words: The Second Chance of Easter

Beth VogtEaster, In Others' Words, Quotes 12 Comments

  Easter is the biggest, grandest second chance in the history of mankind. We like to dress Easter up in new clothes or disguise it as the Easter Bunny, but the truth is . . . the Truth is, Easter is all about God saying, “I want more for you” — and then providing the way for us to have …

In Others’ Words: Planning and Planting for Shade in Years to Come

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, perspective, Quotes 11 Comments

How often do we think about how our actions today will affect someone else in the future? I can get so caught up in the here and now — crossing off all the things on my To Do list that I accomplished — that the future encompasses only a few days from now, and not much further. Oh, sure, I’m …

In Others’ Words: Making Changes

Beth Vogtchange, In Others' Words, Quotes 9 Comments

  Some quotes you just can’t argue with.  I could leave it at that and this would be a very short blog post, wouldn’t it? Yep. Feeling a bit sassy today. Expounding on the whole “making changes” theme: People in my life can influence me so that I see the need to change. People can inspire me by the changes …

In Others’ Words: Crowding Out Trust

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Quotes, trust 22 Comments

Last week didn’t go exactly as I planned. This week isn’t going exactly as I planned, either. My husband, 17-year-old daughter, Christa, and I traveled to Washington, DC last Friday so Christa could compete in a volleyball tournament with her club team. We started off the trip by showing up at the Denver airport — only to find out that …

In Others: Be More Courageous

Beth Vogtcourage, In Others' Words, Quotes 15 Comments

If at all possible, I like to hang out with courageous people. People who don’t back down from a challenge. People who aren’t scared of the unknown — or, if they are, stare it down with their own brand of moxie. People who’ve been through the worst that life can throw at them and have held onto their faith and …

In Others’ Words: Start or Finish?

Beth Vogtcompetition, In Others' Words, Quotes 12 Comments

I’ve watched many a volleyball game since my youngest daughter started playing back in fifth grade. I’ve got to admit, I like it when her team comes out hot, all the players fired up and ready to go, knocking the team on the other side of the net off kilter. But I’ve learned over and over again that, while fired …

In Others’ Words: Inspiring Change

Beth Vogtchange, How Gratitude Shapes the Heart, In Others' Words, Quotes 25 Comments

My husband laughed and summed up today’s blog post in two words: Change happens. You can’t argue with the man. January was a month of change for me as a writer. I started on book 2 in my Thatcher Sisters Series — always fun to develop new characters and plot a new story. “Why?” is the repeated question during this …

In Others’ Words: When Story Conquers Fear

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Quotes, story 10 Comments

I sat across from my trusted friend Wise Guy recently and told him, “My heart seems smaller.” Had unrelenting circumstances — mine and others’ close to me — turned me into some emotional Grinch and downsized my heart? As I talked some and listened more, I realized that yes, fear had crept in and silenced me … that unknowingly I …