Beth's Blog
The Living Isn’t Always Easy
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
George Gershwin’s 1935 opera “Porgy and Bess features the classic “Summertime” lullaby, “Summertime and the living is easy.” Hmmm … sorry, Mr. Gershwin, the living isn’t always easy, especially in summertime. I know the jazz-inspired song was written almost 90 years ago, so maybe Mr. Gershwin never saw the summers we’ve been through lately. […]
Trapped in Wait Mode?
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Waiting is not something most of us relish. Do you ever feel trapped in wait mode? Delays reek of intrusion on our jam-packed schedules. We bristle! Waiting drags us into slow-down mode. We grit our teeth! Postponements steer us outside our precisely timed worlds into the random universe of the unknown. We grouse! In my […]
Dads and Their Shoes
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Father’s Day makes me think of Dads and their shoes. Well, not every dad, but it does make you wonder about Jerry Seinfeld’s papa. Did the elder Seinfeld own 500 pairs of white sneakers like his famous son? Did the father of former Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos, who owned 3,000 pairs of shoes, try […]
Teaching This Old Dog New Tricks
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
They say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. But “they” are wrong. You could say I’m a bit older dog and I am actually learning from dogs. How about you on life’s learning curve? How are you when it comes to receiving advice and corrective instruction? Are you more coach or critic when you […]
Looking for Better Times
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
You and I sometimes find ourselves looking for better times. We do wander in our wish-things-were-better thoughts, even if we are hesitant to admit it to ourselves or others. Just look at this day for a moment. Did you fill up your gas tank and nearly faint at the price? At any point today did […]
Everyday Heroes Among Us
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Some define a hero as a person admired for tremendous achievements or noble qualities or someone who saved the day. Others of us consider a hero someone modeling strength, ability or courage by just living out life—whether someone notices or not. As Memorial Day approaches, I’d like to introduce you to someone who was a […]
When God Wears Holy High-Tops
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
As kids, my brothers and I played with a metal replica of a Greyhound® bus. I think my mom purchased it on one of our many bus rides to Minneapolis to see her family. I loved that little blue and gray toy and its movable rubber wheels. Little did I know that one day I […]
Mother’s Day: Finding Your Song
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
“Those who wish to sing always find a song.” The Swedes knocked it out of the park with this wise proverb. I think this photo I ran across recently proves the Swedish truism. Pictured at an evening outdoor birthday party with me are Anne (far left) and birthday gal, Dorease. Look at our smiles and […]
What If . . . ?
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
What if? What if is a common question that drifts through our minds. And sometimes get stuck there. What if I lived in the 1800s? What if I chose to marry him? What if I majored in English instead of journalism? Fifteen years ago this spring, I sat in a coffee shop with a college […]
Ish. Ish. Ish.
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Ish. Ish. Ish. Just where did we come up with this three-letter suffix that we seem to add to most any word? I’ll be there at 9-ish. She was feeling sluggish. He was kind of standoffish. Today I heard a youthful retail store clerk tell a customer ahead of me, “I’m kind of new-ish.” I […]
Pointing in the Right Direction
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
There’s something freeing about your life pointing in the right direction. You know, when your goals and aspirations are coming out ahead of your everyday challenges and draining stressors. Pointing the right direction reminds me of this family classic photo when I was around three years old. Yep, that’s me in my frilly white dress, […]
How to Survive Anything
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Just how does someone survive anything? Really? Not long ago I talked with a woman who truly exudes a lighter heart in tough times. You’ll find her story real and remarkable. Katherine is the kind of woman we could sit down with for coffee and suddenly discover we’ve talked for four hours. Katherine and her […]
Just Keep at It
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Just keep at it. That’s sometimes easier said than done. I ran across the “just keep at it” words this week in The Message rendering of 1 Timothy 4:16. “Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don’t be diverted. Just keep at it.” Don’t be diverted. Just keep at it. Lately, […]
Two Beautiful Minds
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
I know two older women with beautiful minds. My neighbor, Ilse, has a beautiful mind, it just doesn’t always cooperate as she’d like. Dementia has a way of muddling the brain’s communication pathways, leaving a person drifting in and out of a mental fog. Dementia is unpredictable and sometimes unfriendly. One hour you’re laughing and […]
Life After the Unthinkable
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
We all have a story to tell. Even if we think we don’t. I am honored to tell this bending story of a much-loved librarian who survived and thrived after the unthinkable slammed into her life. Some people love books and are voracious readers. Lois Wagner was one of these bibliophiles, but she didn’t keep […]
“Hello, God, Are You There?”
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
I am recovering from thumb surgery, so this week I am sharing from my timeless blog classics. Enjoy! Learning to bend in life includes learning to hold tight when it feels like God goes silent. Hello? Hello, God, are you there? So goes the wondering when it comes to the Almighty and his sealed lips. When […]
Just Get Up, Again. Again. Again. Again.
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
So when is losing really winning? Here our world goes again, beating up on another already beleaguered sports champion, an Olympian gold medalist. This time instead of rock star gymnast Simone Biles being battered by the media and fans everywhere, it’s Olympic Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffron. Please . . . stop the madness. Granted everyone […]
Lassie to Your Rescue?
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Tell me you know who Lassie is. Yes! I honestly have not met anyone who does not know about that beloved rough collie Hollywood icon, Lassie. I’ve had people from South America tell me how they had very few TV channels to watch growing up, but their parents made sure they could see the affable […]
Just Say “Yes”
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Sure, go ahead. Just say “yes.” Recently I posted about learning to say “no” to things that distract and are not the best choice for us. Lest you think I’m a negative naysayer who balks at the good, the adventurous and the fun, I am suggesting we also balance out life with plenty of “yes” […]
Living the Now
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
So many of us jumpstart our Januarys with a lengthy list of things we’d like to change or improve upon in the coming year. We vow to eat better, exercise more and get our finances on track. We aspire to play more and complain less. We swear we’ll ditch fear and laugh at the little […]
One Word Changes Everything
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
“No. Nope. Can’t. Not the best choice for me. No.” As we start off another new year, I’ve been spending time rereading a fabulously practical book that a dear friend gave me a few years ago. Maybe you’ve read Present Over Perfect too. If not, I highly recommend this gutsy, winsome New York Times Bestseller […]
Oops! Best Solutions When You Mess Up
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
You mess up. I mess up. We all mess up at some point. With a new year already revving into high gear, we may still be hanging onto our mess-ups from last year or even farther back. May I suggest we wipe the slate clean and move onward with a fresh start? Perhaps my classic […]
Holding Everything Together in Our Unhinged World
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
In our world that seems unhinged at times, it is steadying to know that Someone greater than us holds together the millenniums past, present and future. “…Jesus is the hinge on which the door of history swings, the point at which eternity intersects with time, the Savior who redeems time by drawing all things […]
How Prostitutes Help Us Celebrate Christmas
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
During the Christmas season, I find it helpful to reflect on the gifts of acceptance, humility and gratitude. These three gifts were presented to me not under the Christmas tree but through the character of prostitutes—streetwalkers, call girls and escorts. On a muggy May afternoon, Mariel* led me along the dank back alley to her […]
Waiting for the Dawn
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Lately I’ve found myself waiting for the dawn. For you non-morning people, dawn is the time of day when the sun starts to toss and turn in bed, sending out weak sunlight on the Earth. Sunrise is when the sun yawns and stretches and its leading edge pokes above the horizon. Dawn is twilight time […]
Happy Thanksgiving: Grateful or Grouchy?
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Grateful or grouchy. We have a choice every day of the year—and not just at Thanksgiving—to be grateful or grouchy. The other day on a hospital pet therapy visit with my collie, Maisie, I met with a patient who was beyond grouchy. Granted, being in pain and confined in a hospital room for weeks upon […]
Standing Tall
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Some people stand tall when they cannot even stand at all. I’ve been honored to know several of these inspiring individuals over the years. I’m thinking you know a few too. You know, the people who refuse to sink under immense pressures. There’s the stalwart farmer who gets back on the tractor and plants again […]
Saluting Those Who Serve
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Today is Veterans Day when we honor military veterans who have served in the Armed Forces for the United States and several other countries. Let’s all extend a huge THANK YOU to the veterans we know who have a sacrificed so much for each one of us who live in this incredible country we call […]
That’s a Bunch of Manure!
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
Some of us understand the phrase, “That’s a bunch of manure!” better than others. You see, those us of from rural America are truly olfactory aficionados when it comes to manure. With hardly a sniff of our snout, we can finely distinguish between most any animal’s doo doo. I have never listed Manure Olfactory Specialist […]
The Comparison Crunch
Filed under: Life Lessons | Perspective | Resilience
I’ve been there. You’ve been there. We’ve all found ourselves at times crammed in the Comparison Crunch. Man, I’ll never look like that! . . . If only I had his salary. . . . Look at her kids, they all seem so perfect. . . .Why can’t I be that organized? . . . […]