Beth K. Vogt's Blog, page 22

In Others’ Words: Contented with Little

I’ve come across the same Scripture verse again and again in recent days:

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin …” Zephaniah 4:10 NLT

As a matter of fact, I ran into the words so many times, I made a graphic of it:

I pay attention when God repeats Himself.

I’m in a season of new beginnings … and yes, it seems to be slow and small at this point.

I can choose to be frustrated. Or I can choose to anchor my emotions to this verse and be like God who knows quite a lot about beginnings, and who “… rejoices to see the work begin …”

And didn’t I just blog about being wise about where we anchor our emotions? Why yes, yes, I did.

Today’s quote brings up a tricksy balance: being content with little and wanting more. 

I’m for both contentment and ambition. The challenge comes with being content with where I am and what I have — and focusing on just that and not where someone else is and what someone else has.

You want to wreck your contentment? Go wishing upon someone else’s star. You’ll lose your way every time. 

In Your Words: Are you in a season of small beginnings? Know that God rejoices over such things. Be content with where you are — and go ahead and wish upon your star for more. What keeps you going when things don’t always go the way you dreamed?

In Others' Words: Contented with Little http://bit.ly/2kjfkbC #perspective #ambition
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'My motto is: Contented with little, yet wishing for more.' quote by Charles Lamb. http://bit.ly/2kjfkbC #contentment #ambition
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In Others’ Words: Diamonds in the Rough

Sometimes we overlook things of value.

We may hold the roughest of diamonds in our hands and, not seeing its worth, toss it to the ground like pebble.

Diamonds in the rough come in all forms. They can be:

a person we meet who causes us grief or who we don’t understand or particularly like.
an experience that we’re forced to endure that exhausts us or frustrates us or disappoints us.
the consequences of our actions that cause us to end up somewhere we never thought we’d be or demand something of us that we don’t think we can do.
the remnants of a dream that once seemed so large and beautiful and and now we wonder why … why we ever dared to dream such an impossible dream.

 

But all of these “rough diamonds”? They have value … if we don’t overlook them. If we stop long enough to realize that diamonds don’t start out cut and polished and placed in a setting — a ring or a necklace or a tiara or a bracelet — that allows it to be admired. Every diamond starts out rough. And very few diamonds are perfect. They’re no longer rough — but just about all of them have flaws.

And they are still beautiful, despite being imperfect.

In Your Words: When have you recognized the value of a diamond in the rough? 

In Others' Words: Diamonds in the Rough http://bit.ly/2x3wxPy #quotes #perspective
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'Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles.' http://bit.ly/2x3wxPy quote by Thomas Brown #value #perspective
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In Others’ Words: From Here to Eternity

I’ve mulled over Thomas Merton’s words for several days now.

“Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul.” 

I usually stay away from generalizations like that — careful not to use words like “every” and “all” in statements. But I don’t believe Merton is overstating the truth here. I think we overlook the truth that each moment of our lives affects us in some way. And that each event in our lives leaves its mark on us, too.

Are we capable of living in this reality — of how we are affected by every moment and every event in our lives — day in and day out? No. We’re not moment-by-moment beings. Oh, we try to harness time, with our clocks and our calendars and our schedules … but time is too fluid and we so often want to live in the finite world.

We get so busy that we overlook our souls, which are invisible. Intangible. Eternal. 

And yet … and yet, somethings are planted in our soul, whether we realize it or not. Actions … choices … chance … sovereignty …  all of this shapes our souls. Maybe scars our souls. Maybe molds them to be more compassionate … or less. To lean closer to the voice of God … or to turn away.

And maybe the point in all this is to be more mindful of moments and events — and how they affect our souls.

In Your Words: How has a moment or event in your past planted something in your soul?

In Others' Words: From Here to Eternity http://bit.ly/2wQvdQ0 #perspective #quotes
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'Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul.' quote by Thomas Merton http://bit.ly/2wQvdQ0 #faith #perspective
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ONE MORE DAY LEFT TO ENTER! The “Book Birthday” Celebration Giveaway for Things I Never Told You ends May 18th! Make sure to enter the giveaway for a chance to be one of six prize winners — including a grand prize worth over $175!

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In Others’ Words: Life Anchors

 

“You have to be careful what you anchor your emotions to.”

I was talking to a friend  a few weeks ago when those words came out of my mouth. She looked at me and said, “That’s a blog post!”

And I’ve been mulling what I said ever since then — about how I need to be careful what I anchor my emotions to.

Our emotions — whether we’re feeling happy or sad or secure or panicky or bewildered or thankful — are affected by things like our circumstances or our relationships with others or how exhausted we are. As my friend Wise Guy says: Fatigue makes cowards of us all. I reminded myself of that truth today as I crawled into bed for a nap — and a short cry. Life’s been more than busy and some big changes are coming up. I needed both the nap and a few moments to shed a few tears.

If I’m not careful, I can tend to anchor my emotions to two things: circumstances and other people’s opinions of me. 

Both  are lousy choices for anchors.

Circumstances come and go. And people’s opinions? There’s no way I can do enough, be enough,  to keep everyone happy — to live up to everyone’s expectations for me.

A more trustworthy anchor is God’s truth — who He says I am and who He says He will be in my life. I may not always understand God’s ways in my life, but I can say this: God has never failed me. He has never rejected me. His love is unconditional. 

In Your Words: Whether we realize it or not, we all choose anchors to hold us steady when life tosses us around. What’s your anchor?

In Others' Words: Life Anchors http://bit.ly/2KqA4cG #perspective #quotes
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'Have an anchor so that life doesn't toss you around.' quote by Debby Ryan http://bit.ly/2KqA4cG #anchors #perspective
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The “Book Birthday” Celebration Giveaway for Things I Never Told You ends May 18th! Make sure to enter the giveaway for a chance to be one of six prize winners — including a grand prize worth over $175!

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In Others’ Words: What Each New Day Brings

I’m writing this blog post in a hotel room in Minnesota. A rerun of Iron Chef is on the TV. My husband and daughter are discussing our plans for tomorrow — a college visit and then flying home to Colorado. When I’m done with this blog post, I need to pack.

And I’m tired.

Of course, I have good reasons to be tired — and I do mean good reasons. While we’ve been visiting colleges in Minnesota, my book released. (Happy Book Birthday, Things I Never Told You!) And I got to visit with two precious writing friends. (Waving at you, Dee and Susie.) And my daughter, Christa, got to explore possible future options.

All good things.

But at the end of back-to-back busy days, I’m tired. And physical tiredness produces mental and emotional tiredness. (Anybody out there nodding their heads, agreeing with me?) And all this tiredness can lead to negativity — even in the midst of celebration and life being good.

And this is when I’ve learned to say “Today is done. Appreciate the good things and don’t overthink that other stuff.” And, as Eleanor Roosevelt said, it is always good to remember that tomorrow is a new day, with new strength and new thoughts in it.

In Your Words: I bet you get tired, too. Right? What gives you perspective when you’re tired — mentally and physically? What renews your strength and your thoughts?

 

In Others' Words: What Each New Day Brings http://bit.ly/2ItnnjC #perspective #quotes
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'With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.' #quote by Eleanor Roosevelt http://bit.ly/2ItnnjC #newday
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Join  me in celebrating the “Book Birthday” of Things I Never Told You! My debut women’s fiction novel from Tyndale House releases today and you’re invited to enter the giveaway for a chance to be one of six prize winners! The giveaway is open to U.S. residents and lasts from May 8-May 18.

 

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In Others’ Words: The Power of Sister Relationships (and GIVEAWAY)

 

There’s so much I could say … so much I want to say in today’s blog post. And yet I weigh my words. Mindful of my word count. Mindful of so much more.

My debut women’s fiction novel, Things I Never Told You, releases today. It’s a Little Women gone wrong story about the Thatcher sisters: Johanna, Jillian, and Payton and Pepper, who are identical twins.

I was so eager to write this book … and so unsure of myself. 

My relationships with my two sisters — one younger, and one my fraternal twin — are complicated, to say the least. This doesn’t mean I don’t love my sisters. It just means I haven’t figured out how to mend the broken parts of our relationships.

So I wrote a story about complicated, broken relationships between sisters. Because that? I know that.

What’s one detail I know about sister relationships? They are powerful. Sisters influence one another all the days of their lives — and memories can echo with laughter or be stained with tears. Often it is a blend of both.

In Your Words: What’s your take on sister relationships? Join the conversation today and share a sister memory — even a sister-of-the-heart memory. And make sure to keep reading and find out about my Book Birthday Celebration and Giveaway!

[bctt tweet=”In Others’ Words: The Power of Sister Relationships http://bit.ly/2HYz52x #quotes #sisters” username=”bethvogt”]

'If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child.
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Join  me in celebrating the “Book Birthday” of Things I Never Told You! My debut women’s fiction novel from Tyndale House releases today and you’re invited to enter the giveaway for a chance to be one of six prize winners! The giveaway is open to U.S. residents and lasts from May 8-May 18.

 

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In Others’ Words: The Power of Sister Relationships

 

There’s so much I could say … so much I want to say in today’s blog post. And yet I weigh my words. Mindful of my word count. Mindful of so much more.

My debut women’s fiction novel, Things I Never Told You, releases today. It’s a Little Women gone wrong story about the Thatcher sisters: Johanna, Jillian, and Payton and Pepper, who are identical twins.

I was so eager to write this book … and so unsure of myself. 

My relationships with my two sisters — one younger, and one my fraternal twin — are complicated, to say the least. This doesn’t mean I don’t love my sisters. It just means I haven’t figured out how to mend the broken parts of our relationships.

So I wrote a story about complicated, broken relationships between sisters. Because that? I know that.

What’s one detail I know about sister relationships? They are powerful. Sisters influence one another all the days of their lives — and memories can echo with laughter or be stained with tears. Often it is a blend of both.

In Your Words: What’s your take on sister relationships? Join the conversation today and share a sister memory — even a sister-of-the-heart memory. And make sure to keep reading and find out about my Book Birthday Celebration and Giveaway!

In Others' Words: The Power of Sister Relationships http://bit.ly/2HYz52x #quotes #sisters
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'If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child.
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Join  me in celebrating the “Book Birthday” of Things I Never Told You! My debut women’s fiction novel from Tyndale House releases today and you’re invited to enter the giveaway for a chance to be one of six prize winners! The giveaway is open to U.S. residents and lasts from May 8-May 18.

 

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In Others’ Words: Eliminate Hurry

I almost … almost made this a one word blog post. The one word would have been “How?”

How do we “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry”?

Dallas Willard’s statement is grand — Stop hurrying — and show no mercy toward anything that stands in your way of slowing down! — but let’s be honest with one another. Eliminating hurry from our lives is hard!

Slowing down means saying no … over and over again. It means stopping not just one thing or another … but many things. Can I be honest? Of course I can — I just said we were going to do that, didn’t I? Just a couple of hours before I wrote this blog, my daughter Amy sat beside me on the couch and said, “I’m going to teach you a new word, Mom. It’s this: N-O. NO. Now say it after me. NO. NO.” And I followed her lead. Said, “NO.”

And then I went back to the crazy hurriedness that I’d been doing right before her little intervention.

Amy meant well. More than that, she was right. But I wasn’t ready for change –much less being ruthless about it.

Maybe before we can eliminate hurry from our lives, we need to ask why we want to eliminate hurry. What’s the opposite of hurrying? I would say it’s being intentional. And I would also say that being intentional is better than hurrying here and there and everywhere else … wouldn’t you?

In Your Words: Which would you rather: Hurry or Be Intentional? And how would you eliminate hurry from your life? (You can choose to be ruthless or not.)

 

In Others' Words: Eliminate Hurry http://bit.ly/2w9egQf #perspective #beintentional
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'Ruthlessly eliminate hurry.' quote by Dallas Willard http://bit.ly/2w9egQf #quotes #slowdown
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I’m continuing to count down the days until  Things I Never Told You, releases — 5 days! I turned in book 2 to my editors last Sunday and am planning to start plotting book 3 in June. You can read the first chapter of TINTY and get a glimpse of my “Little Women gone wrong” story from Tyndale House Publishers. Also, there are all sorts of fun giveaways going on right now — thanks to my publisher and various guest blog posts — and they’re shared on my Author Facebook page.

 

In Others’ Words: Imagination Will Take You Everywhere

There was a time when I tried desperately to come up with a new story idea.

As the saying goes, I had nothing.

I played the writer’s “what if?” mind game while I drove around town. While I moved laundry from the washer to the dryer to the laundry basket. While I grocery shopped. While I loaded the dishwasher. While I exercised.

You get the idea.

Every idea seemed like a same-old-same-old idea.

And then I found a picture that my son, Josh, designed in high school.

It’s 20 different interpretations of a key.

Twenty.

 

Talk about imagination!

Looking at my son’s creativity motivated me to not give up. If Josh could come up with 20 different perspectives of a common household object, surely I could think (and pray) my way to a new story idea.

And yes, yes I did.

My son’s artwork now hangs in my office to remind me that imagination is an amazing thing … and that I can be more creative than I ever realized.

In Your Words: If you had to choose, would you choose logic or imagination? And just for fun: What gets your creativity, your imagination, flowing?

In Others' Words: Imagination Will Take You Everywhere http://bit.ly/2w9GomD #quotes #creativity
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'Logic will get your from A to B, imagination will take you everywhere.' quote by Albert Einstein http://bit.ly/2w9GomD #logic #imagination
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In Others’ Words: Repeating Good

 

Have you ever gotten an irritating song stuck in your head? You hear it over and over again …

Yeah, that kind of repeat is not a good thing.

But there are times when a certain song uplifts my mood or touches my heart or even inspires me as I write. And I pull the song up on Spotify and sync it so it plays over and over and over and over again. 

And that kind of repeat is a very good thing.

What if you could plan a day filled with good repeats? What kinds of things would you include?

Laughter
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner with family or good friends
Time spent at a favorite location — a mountain retreat or at the beach
Favorite songs
Favorite books
Favorite movies

Too often we go through our day repeating ourselves … doing the same things over and over again. But we’re not intentional enough to repeat the good things that encourage our hearts, challenge us to be better, heal our brokenness.

In Your Words: What one good thing would repeat, repeat, repeat?

In Others' Words: Repeating Good https://buff.ly/2vW5d5p #quotes #perspective
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'There is no harm in repeating a good thing.' quote by Plato https://buff.ly/2vW5d5p #dogood #repeatinggood
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I wanted to share that my debut women’s fiction novel, Things I Never Told You, releases in 12 days! Yep, getting a bit excited about this, even as I stare down my May 1 deadline for book 2 in the series. You can read the first chapter and get a glimpse of my “Little Women gone wrong” story from Tyndale House Publishers.