Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “expectations”
@bethvogt I’m five days into focusing on my One Word for 2022. A quick reminder, because you’re not responsible to remember my One Word: I’m focusing on the word pray. Pray, not prayer. I’m specific about the difference between the two words. Prayer is a noun, a word referring to a person, place, or thing. Pray is a verb, …
@bethvogt I was thinking about life yesterday. And the children’s game “Mother, May I?” You remember how to play this one, right? You have one player who is Mother. Other players are, well, just regular players. The regulars line up shoulder to shoulder in front of Mother. Make sure there is plenty of space between Mother and the regulars. …
@bethvogt A lot of people are counting down the days until Christmas. There are 73 days until December 25, my friends. But did you know there are 80 days until the start of 2022? If those 80 days race by like the other 285, then January 1, 2022 will show up on our calendars before we’re ready. I’ll admit I’ve …
@bethvogt “There’s always hope,” my daughter Amy said. “I’ll hope in a minute,” I told her. I was sitting down, leaning over, grappling with some unexpected news. Unwanted news. The kind that takes your breath away, even as your eyes sting with tears. You know what I mean, right? For just a minute, you lose your grip on hope … …
My friend Mary and I went for an early morning walk the other day. During our weekly walks, we take turns talking about life in an honest, here’s-what’s-going-on-with-me kind of way. Mary invited me to go first, so after discussing my latest ups and downs, I yielded the, um, sidewalk to Mary. As we neared the end of our …
@bethvogt I’ve backed away from this blog post numerous times. I’ve rethought the topic, but the theme continues to sit there and stare at me without blinking. Life is hard. Yes, I’m the same woman who just blogged about wearing Life is Good T-shirts as a reminder to look for the good in life. But sometimes circumstances weigh us …
@bethvogt I’ve heard the term “heavy-hearted” quite a bit recently. People are heavy-hearted about their life circumstances – from family struggles to friends’ setbacks. People are heavy-hearted about life “out there” – events playing out across the world via nonstop news headlines every single hour of the day. How do we counterbalance the ongoing challenges that weigh our hearts down? …
I wake up several times each night. I know I’m not alone in this repeated I’m-asleep-now-I’m-awake middle of the night routine. The first thing I do when I wake up is glance at the alarm clock on my bedside table. It’s an illuminated model with oversize red digital numbers I purchased several years ago for my mother-in-law who battled …
@bethvogt My youngest daughter Christa is having ankle surgery today. Surgery and rehabbing her ankle were not part of her original plan for the summer. I talked about how her Plan A fell apart in my blog post “Why Can We Be Hopeful When Our Plans Fall Apart?” Christa got through the last weeks of her spring semester at Bethel …
@bethvogt It’s time to take down our Christmas tree. I know, I know, some of you are thinking, “It’s long past time to take that tree down, Beth!” After Christmas, my husband Rob decided we needed light in our lives. Keeping our Christmas tree up was a perfect way to accomplish that. We also left our Christmas star up outside …
