I asked my friend, Casey, how she was doing with the extended stay-at-home order in Colorado Springs. “Hanging in there. Trusting God,” she said. “But limbo is a hard place to hang out in.” Yes, yes, it is. And that’s what’s wearing on all of us right now: we’re stuck in limbo, waiting for someone to set us free. The …
Coronavirus, Christmas, and Choosing Truth to Change Our Attitudes
Have you heard about people putting up their Christmas decorations during the coronavirus pandemic? I hadn’t considered hauling out my decorations and decking the halls – until yesterday. I don’t know about you, but I’m still adjusting to life in the midst of COVID-19. It’s a daily tug-of-war between my expectations and reality. Between my emotions and my faith. My …
Choosing to Face the Effects of Uncertainty
My youngest daughter, Christa, is home for spring break from college. Only it’s not the spring break she planned on. It’s not the spring break hundreds of thousands of college students planned on. After I wrote that last sentence my husband, Rob, Christa, and I paused to do some quick mental math and decided the sentence should read “millions …
A Thanksgiving Prayer
O, heavenly Father: We thank thee for food and remember the hungry. We thank the for health and remember the sick. We thank the for friends an remember the friendless. We thank the for freedom and remember the enslaved. May these remembrances stir us to service, that thy gifts to us may be used for others. Amen. …
Redefining Balance So We Stop Thinking We’re Doing Life Wrong
I have a certain morning routine. I typed that sentence and immediately – immediately – thought of the many ways my “certain” morning routine is interrupted on any given day. I walked away from this blog post and made myself a cup of tea. Came back, started typing again, all the while laughing out loud so that my husband …
How Do You Conquer a Season of Transition?
There’s a lot of change going on around me right now. My son and his wife are awaiting the arrival of their baby, which is due in early August. They’re also moving into a new home before then. Well, that’s the plan, anyway. We all know due dates are approximations, right? My middle daughter and her husband are moving back …
Success is not Who We Are
Know Your Values to Succeed by @bethvogt Success is serious business to a lot of people – to just about everyone. People spend a lot of time defining success. Redefining it. Pursuing it. Achieving it. Set your sights on any sort of goal – academic, athletic, creative – and the question pops up in some form or another: Are …
The Fallacy of Doing Our Best
KLowering the Bar to Achieve More by @bethvogt Success, my friends, isn’t always about giving our best effort. Sometimes success is doing a little bit less. Can I get an “amen!”? Over the years, my family has learned to ask, “What’s the wise choice?” And sometimes the best, wisest choice is to stop trying so hard. There are times when …
Do You Operate in Crisis Mode?
Learning to Balance Our Emotions by @bethvogt “This is a deadline, not a crisis.” I woke up in the middle of the night with that phrase running through my head. I’d gone to bed a couple of hours earlier frustrated yet again. Staring down a looming writing deadline and an insufficient word count. I’d been chasing that deadline for …
How Real Life Redefines Bravery
What Happens After a Crisis by @BethVogt “Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up.” ~Brené Brown, American research professor Can I just be honest and say life went off the rails last week? The past seven days have been all about trying to find some sense of calmness in the midst of recovering …