Realizing What Gratitude Can Do For You

Beth Vogtchoices, contentment, encouragement, gratitude, holidays, hope, Life, Thanksgiving 5 Comments

“Gratitude is an antidote to negative emotions, a neutralizer of envy, hostility, worry, and irritation. It is savoring; it is not taking things for granted; it is present-oriented.”     I hope today’s quote encourages you and that you’re able to lean into gratitude. I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving. The holiday season doesn’t mean we can push pause on …

What Do We Do When Thanksgiving and Grief Collide?

Beth VogtBeth K. Vogt, brokenness, challenges, choices, COVID-19, crisis, family, grace, grief, holidays, hope, Life, mental health, perseverance, perspective, Quotes, Reality, suffering 14 Comments

@bethvogt   Our Thanksgiving holiday is complicated this year. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. It is 2020, after all. A world-wide pandemic doesn’t take a day off so we can observe our annual holiday traditions. Some of us have already decked our halls with fa-la-la-la-la because we just need a little Christmas right now – not later. Then in …

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Beth Vogtautumn, Beth K. Vogt, choices, contentment, Faith, grace, gratitude, holidays, perseverance, prayer, Quotes, Thanksgiving 8 Comments

      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. …

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 …

Making Room for Each Other This Holiday Season

Beth Vogtacceptance, Beth K. Vogt, challenges, change, choices, Christmas, expectations, family, grace, holidays, In Others' Words, kindness, Life, perspective, Quotes, Relationships, stress, Thanksgiving 9 Comments

@bethvogt   The holiday season is fast-approaching. Thanksgiving? A mere 22 days away. Christmas? Only 48 days. New Year’s Eve? Counting down 54 days. We all have our do’s and don’ts when it comes to celebrating the holidays – or not celebrating the holidays because, let’s be honest, some people aren’t thankful for all the fa-la-la-la-la. I’ve never hated the …

Choosing to be Thankful Now

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Quotes, Thanksgiving 5 Comments

So many people are posting so many things about Thanksgiving today. So many things have already been said about Thanksgiving. About being grateful. And today is a day to be present … yes, present in our less-than-perfect circumstances and choose to be thankful for something. For someone.  Gratitude, if nothing else, is a choice. You are in my prayers today …

In Others’ Words: Choosing to be Grateful or Graceful

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, perspective, Quotes 7 Comments

There’s honesty in author Richard Carlson’s words: The trick is to be grateful when your mood is high and graceful when it is low.”  We all experience highs and lows. We love to talk about the highs, but sometimes we keep our lows hidden. My Thanksgiving Day didn’t go off exactly as I planned. Yes, the house was filled with loved …

In Others’ Words: A Thanksgiving Prayer

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Quotes, Thanksgiving 12 Comments

  Thanksgiving Day is the day after tomorrow. I paused for a moment after I wrote that sentence … caught my breath and thought, Is that correct? Thanksgiving is that close?  Yes, it is. I spent Monday grocery shopping, prepping for Wednesday, when family comes over and helps with the day-before cooking. That’s a newer family tradition that makes Thanksgiving Day much more relaxed. We’ll …

In Others’ Words: Future Trust

Beth VogtFaith, In Others' Words, Quotes 7 Comments

Sometimes things just take time. I know today’s quote by theologian Henri Nouwen talks about “the fruits of [our] labors,” and yes, there are times when our efforts don’t pay off right away. Months, maybe. Even years. You’re a fine, upstanding employee … but the promotion doesn’t happen. You do all the right “writerly” things — attend conferences, rewrite manuscripts, pay …

In Others’ Words: Chasing the Dream

Beth Vogtdreams, In Others' Words, Quotes 9 Comments

It’s the middle of November, which means I’m thinking of Thanksgiving … and then Christmas … and then the New Year is is fast approaching. Are you feeling breathless yet? This is the time of year I often look forward and backward at the same time. I consider what I wanted to accomplish during the past year — did my dreams …