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by Beth Vogt @BethVogt I think the encouragement to keep reading is good advice for anyone, don�t you?  I certainly never lack for books to read � and while sometimes I just read for pleasure, there are certain books that have influenced me greatly, changing my thoughts about life and about myself. There are any number of quotes about advice: " No one can give you better advice than yourself.� -Cicero (106 BC � 43 BC), Roman philosopher  (Not sure I agree with Cicero.) �Wise men don�t need advice. Fools won�t take it.� -Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), one of the Founding Fathers of the United States  (Ben has a point.) �I owe my success to listening respectfully to the best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.� -G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer & theologian  (Had to laugh at G.K.�s attitude.) �Whatever advice you give, be brief.� -Horace (65 BC � 8 BC), Roman lyric poet  (Totally agree with Horace.) I�ve both given and rec...

by Beth Vogt @BethVogt More and more, I have come to love story. My life story � and other people�s life stories, too. To be honest, there are times I see someone and, at first, I�m closed to their story.  Maybe they seem a little too different from me � and I�m put off. But I�ve learned to say to myself, �This person is made in the image of God,� and doing so opens me to their story. And then I ask that person about the tattoos on their arms � and learn about their grandfather who lived in Germany and owned a cuckoo clock (true story). Or I compliment someone on their multicolored hair � and earn a surprised look, a hesitant smile, and a �thank you.� Who knows? Maybe for that brief moment, I added a bit of positive to that person�s story. Sometimes we only get bits and pieces of another person�s story.  Sometimes we are invited into another person�s life � and we become friends. A part of their story. Whatever, story is everywhere. And story is valuable. When someone shares t...

by BethVogt @BethVogt Progress is not about how fast you are going, but it is most definitely about forward motion. We almost always equate progress with success � although sometimes that is debatable � and sometimes we also believe success has to happen quickly. Hence, the term �overnight success,� which is an oxymoron in itself. I�ve achieved some successes in my life and I�ll tell you this: most of them took quite a bit longer to occur than I�d expected.  I certainly wasn�t an overnight success as an author. Some people would say I�m still not a huge success, although I�ve achieved some of my goals, even as I�m setting my sights on some new ones. I�m happily married, although �happily married� doesn�t mean �never had to work through issues�. Like the sign posted in our bedroom says:  The first fifty years of marriage are the hardest.  My husband and I have a few years to go until  our Golden Anniversary � but we�re focused on the years ahead instead of the ones be...

by Beth Vogt @BethVogt My husband and I delved into photography the past few years. You can credit our interest to a couple of different things. The first would be my personal blog. Yes, that blog is all about quotes, but I pair the quotes with images, preferably my own. And now, whenever my husband Rob goes snowshoeing or backpacking or fishing, he takes along a camera and promises, �I�ll bring back some photos for you!� Another reason Rob and I enjoy photography so much is our youngest daughter�s involvement with volleyball. Her different volleyball teams � school and club � need a photographer and, well, with my lack of depth perception, no one wants me to be a line judge. Photographer Ansel Adams provides an interesting perspective of photography � that, indeed, every image includes two  unseen  people:  the photographer and the viewer.  And what each person sees can be very, very different.  For instance, when I took the photo posted in this blog, I fo...

by Beth Vogt @BethVogt My friend, Sherrinda, recommended the book  The Artisan Soul  by Erwin Raphael McManus. (I�m not going to comment on his wonderful middle name�Raphael�at this point. But I mean � really �  Raphael .) One thing Sherrinda said was how she was underlining the book like crazy. So I bought the book � and I am doing the same thing. McManus�s book just breathes truth to my thirsty soul. Today�s quote is one of those truths: Our story is what we have to offer the world.  McManus goes on to write: �I wish I had a different story than the one I just lived through, but I am so grateful for the story that has made me who I am today. Even the pain. Even the wound. The sadness was real. The brokeness deep. The scars mine. It�s my story. It�s who I am. It�s how I�m becoming.� Today more than ever, I am embracing my story. Is it the beautiful fairy tale I longed for growing up? No. But it is my story � and as I allow God to soak it in his lavish grace�rather t...