@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 …
What to Do When You’re Heavy-Hearted
@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? …
Choosing to Hold Our Pace When We Can’t See a Way Forward
@bethvogt It’s been another week of watching the Olympics for me and yes, another athlete’s experience in Tokyo taught me a life lesson I’m going to remember for years to come. Rob and I were watching one of the heats for the men’s 800 meter. (Can I just say track and field has a lot of heats?) USA’s Clayton Murphy, …
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 …
Choosing not to Fix Someone Who is Struggling
@bethvogt It’s so difficult to see someone we love struggle. When a family member or friend is hurting, so often we want to rush in and fix the situation for them. Figure out some way to make everything better. If we can figure out the magic equation to make everything better … Poof! The difficult circumstances and devastating emotions overwhelming …
Choosing to Offer Ourselves Grace
@bethvogt Some days are going to be harder than others. Just typing that simple sentence made me feel a whole lot better. I’ve been slogging uphill against my expectations and emotions this past week. Looking back, I see reasons why the past seven days have been challenging – everything from anxiety before, during, and after some dental work, …
Choosing to Gain a Healthier Perspective on Change in Our Lives
@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 …
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 …
How Grief Shapes Us
My son-in-love, David, lost his mom when he was 10 years old. Losing your mom when you’re a young child? I see the faint flicker of his heartache in David’s eyes whenever he mentions his mom. All of us are familiar with the companionship of grief. Throughout our lives, we all must learn and relearn the halting steps of grief …