Choosing to Balance Our Expectations with Reality During the Holidays

Beth Vogtacceptance, Beth K. Vogt, challenges, choices, Christmas, COVID-19, expectations, family, holidays, hope, Life, perseverance, perspective, Quotes, Reality 8 Comments

@bethvogt Like it or not, the holidays are coming in the midst of a pandemic. I don’t know anyone who likes it. I also acknowledge each of us honor different holiday traditions: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa. Some of us may have even broken away from our original family customs. And in the midst of all of this, there may be other …

Recognizing That Healthy is Hard

Beth Vogtacceptance, Beth K. Vogt, challenges, change, choices, expectations, failure, health, Life, perseverance, perspective, Quotes 14 Comments

@bethvogt I was talking with my daughter-in-love, Meagan, when she said, “Healthy is hard.” Her three-word statement was one of those “This is so true!” moments. You know what I’m talking about, right? You’re in the middle of a conversation with someone and they say something that reverberates inside you as if someone hit a massive gong with a hammer. …

Choosing to Gain a Healthier Perspective on Change in Our Lives

Beth Vogtacceptance, Beth K. Vogt, change, choices, Life, perseverance, perspective, Quotes, stress 9 Comments

@bethvogt I’m going through a time of transition. To be honest, I don’t like it. I typed those words and stopped, wondering when was the last time I wrote about my struggle with change. Searched my blog archives and found a blog post dated July 24, 2019. Yes, I had to shake my head and smile. I was dealing with …

Being Honest About Worry

Beth Vogtacceptance, age, anxiety, Beth K. Vogt, challenges, COVID-19, emotions, family, grief, Life, perspective, Quotes, Reality, Relationships 14 Comments

@bethvogt I worry about my mother-in-law every single day. I’m familiar with humorist Erma Bombeck’s assessment of worry: “Worry is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.” Still, I find myself rocking away day after day. Ruth – “MiMaw” to her four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren – turns 102 years old in …

Facing the Reality That Peace Isn’t Always Possible

Beth Vogtacceptance, Beth K. Vogt, brokenness, challenges, choices, expectations, Faith, family, forgiveness, Friendship, grace, grief, hope, Life, perspective, Quotes, Relationships, sisters 23 Comments

@bethvogt I spent the past four years writing a “Little Women gone wrong” women’s fiction series about a trio of sisters trying to discover if they can move from a truce to trusting one another. Maybe they do. Maybe they don’t. Magicians don’t reveal how they do their tricks, right? And authors don’t reveal what’s hidden between the covers of …

Choosing to Believe that Life is Good When We’re Waiting

Beth Vogtacceptance, Beth K. Vogt, challenges, choices, contentment, dreams, expectations, hope, Life, perseverance, perspective, Quotes, success, time 7 Comments

@bethvogt   A long-time wish came true for me two weeks ago. My family transformed the back corner of our yard into a hummingbird garden for me. It’s the barest beginnings of what will one day be a glorious garden with a ceramic bird birth, complete with a solar powered water fountain, two feeders, and yes, the proper plants and …

Reading Between the Lines of the Serenity Prayer

Beth Vogtacceptance, anxiety, Beth K. Vogt, challenges, choices, courage, crisis, Faith, grace, hope, Life, perseverance, perspective, prayer, Quotes, strength, stress, trust 8 Comments

@bethvogt (With acknowledgement to Reinhold Neibuhr (1892-1971), who wrote the Serenity Prayer.) God grant me the serenity  Help me to stay calm. To not yell at my family no matter how much longer we’re quarantined together or say out loud all the snarky comments I’m thinking, even if I do think they’re funny.  to accept the things I cannot change …

Love is a Choice We Make Every Day

Beth Vogtacceptance, Beth K. Vogt, bravery, choices, courage, family, Friendship, Life, Love, perspective, Quotes, trust 4 Comments

  Today’s blog post is pretty straightforward. With Valentine’s Day on Friday, I thought it would be fun to share a few quotes about love.   “Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” Mother Teresa Now before you move on from this post because you’re not into all the forced, commercialized …

The Ongoing Battle with Beauty

Beth Vogtacceptance, beauty, Beth K. Vogt, brokenness, change, family, Identity, Life, perspective, Quotes 30 Comments

  We all grow up knowing our place in our families. And that “place” determines our identity. Firstborn. Middle child. The baby. Sometimes we’re the only child. Among my two brothers and two sisters, I was the ugly one. Now before you say something like, “Surely you exaggerate,” let me assure you I’m not. I knew my place in my …

Honesty and Hope for the Holidays

Beth Vogtacceptance, Beth K. Vogt, challenges, choices, Christmas, crisis, family, grace, gratitude, holidays, hope, Life, perspective, Quotes, Reality, Relationships, suffering, Thanksgiving 8 Comments

@bethvogt   I was still in elementary school when I learned that tragedy – sorrow, grief – doesn’t take time off for the holidays. All the houses in our neighborhood were decorated with lights, festive wreaths on the front doors, a few lawns decorated with statues of snowmen or reindeer or candles. All the houses, save one. One of the …