In Others’ Words: Creating Hope

Beth Vogthope, In Others' Words, Quotes 5 Comments

I confess that I went looking for a quote about hope because my spirits were sagging a bit. Yes, this quote was selected because I’m encouraging myself, but I also hope you’re encouraged by the words shared. And I know that when you all join the conversation by leaving a comment, you so often encourage and uplift me and others, too. Scripture …

In Others’ Words: Entertaining Hope

Beth Vogthope, In Others' Words, lifequotes 6 Comments

  Are you entertaining hope? Indulge me for a minute while I play with that word “entertain.” Have you invited “great hopes” (plural) into your life? Anticipated the arrival of great hopes? Thrown the door wide open and embraced great hopes telling them, “I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve been waiting for you!” Or have you told “great hopes” they’re not …

In Others’ Words: Looking for a “handout”

Beth VogtFaith, In Others' Words 9 Comments

In the Fellowship of the Ring, the first movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins describes how he feels to Gandalf the Gray Wizard this way: I feel … thin. Sort of stretched, if you know what I mean. Like … butter scraped over too much bread.  Thin. Stretched. Scraped. All perfect descriptors of life when hope is worn …

In Others’ Words: Blocked

Beth VogtFaith, In Others' Words, Life 19 Comments

Have you been dreaming lately? I’m not talking about the now-I-lay-me-down-to-sleep kind of dreaming. No. I’m talking about the eyes-wide-open dreams. The ones requiring planning. And effort. And waiting. And praying. Those kind of dreams. If you’d asked me if dreams involved hope, I would have said “Yes, absolutely” without pausing to think about. Dreams demand massive amounts of hope. …

In Others’ Words: Hope and Having

Beth VogtLife, Quotes, Reality, Uncategorized 27 Comments

I almost didn’t post this quote today. I couldn’t decide if I liked or not. If I agreed with it or not. And then, while I was talking with my husband about what Epicurus meant, I distilled the quote down to one word: Now. Good ol’ Epicurus was reminding people to live in the now — not wasting today by …

In Others’ Words: Beauty in Unexpected Places

Beth VogtLife, Quotes, Reality 23 Comments

“I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.” ~Anne Frank (1929-1945), victim of the Holocaust Many of you know that my family evacuated our home last Tuesday when the Waldo Canyon Fire erupted in the Foothills several miles from our neighborhood. We packed our cars with some precious family items — photos, a few …