@bethvogt I mulled over this blog post for quite a while. Started one topic. Erased it. I wanted to think of something funny. Something light. Put a spin on things so my words were encouraging from the get-go. But it was a bit of a fractured start to the week, one where I fought to find a good rhythm …
Reaping the Benefits of Intentional Conversations with Family
A week ago, I exchanged my usual daily outfit of leggings and a Life is Good T-shirt for a casual-nice outfit accessorized with jewelry and a touch of makeup. The occasion? A girls’ night out with four of my favorite people: my daughters, Katie Beth, Amy, Christa, and my daughter-in-love Meagan. We’d reserved a table several weeks in advance …
Choosing to Own Our Days
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 …
Choosing to Value Others By Listening to Them
@bethvogt Listening, truly listening to another person, is both simple and hard work. I’ve focused on listening to others for the past 18 months, ever since choosing “Listen” as my One Word in 2020 and then again in 2021. The one lesson I’m going to remember when 2022 arrives and I move onto a new One Word is that …
Choosing Not To Let Stress Run Our Lives
@bethvogt I’ve been in an ongoing tug-of-war with stress … and right now stress is winning. I stared at that sentence and considered deleting it, one letter at a time. Choosing another topic for today’s blog. But I’ll go with the reality that, despite my best efforts to “Go placidly amid the noise and haste” … well, I’m not. I’m …
Leaning Into Grace As Life Goes On
@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 …
Choosing to Keep Christmas All the Year … or Not
@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 …
Choosing to Embrace a Season of Waiting
Life often seems so much about doing, doesn’t it? We make our To Do lists, either before we go to bed at night or first thing in the morning. Maybe you like S.M.A.R.T. goals or a bullet planner or a yellow legal pad to organize all that you have to accomplish. Then there are the seasons of waiting. Waiting for …
Choosing to Appreciate Now
@bethvogt I’ve had a wind chime hanging in my office for years. I know, I know – wind chimes belong outside, not inside. I found this wind chime at a craft show, fascinated by the crafter’s display. Two copper tubes, along with a thin piece of agate, are suspended from a piece of burnt wood retrieved from one of Colorado’s …
How Do We Choose Hope When Evil Frightens Us?
@bethvogt I’m determined to choose hope even as I struggle to comprehend another senseless act of violence, this time in Boulder, Colorado. Is there an act of violence that ever makes sense? My husband Rob and I spent a long weekend in Minnesota, visiting our youngest daughter whose spring break morphed into a volleyball pre-season. Good days. Good conversations. Lots …