Author: marygracewriting

Mary Grace van der Kroef is a poet, writer, and artist from Ontario, Canada. She enjoys the simple things in life, like a good cup of coffee and heart-to-heart talks with friends. She uses her writing to highlight those simple things while encouraging others and exploring her own inner world. She is a follower of Jesus Christ and writes from a Christian worldview. She believes every person, regardless of circumstance, is a creative being whose stories are important. She cherishes people's differences, and believes diverse stories are imperative to understanding what it is to be human.

Six Word Story (110)

marygracewritingLeave a comment

I use to get splinters as I stacked the wood my family used to heat our home in winter. Dad used gloves but I hated them. Even in winter, I preferred the feeling of bark against my skin, it gave my little hands a better grip.

First, we stacked it in rows behind the garage, then before winter we would all take turns loading the back of the truck, or even sleds with wood and moved it indoors, throwing it down the old-fashioned wood shoot. Once it was inside the word still wasn’t done, it needed to be stacked again to make more room for another load of wood. Back and forth back and forth…

We spent our time doing the necessary. Then when winter hit and the furnace was fired up we spent trees whose rings represent all the time they gathered into their trunks year after year, expanding, giving life to the world.

What a gift their end was to our family.

What a gift our time was to each other as we hauled each load and stored it for those cold Canadian months.

Each moment we spend time, but have you ever thought about whose time you are spending? It’s almost never just yours.

Copyrigt ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Find them HERE

Six Word Story (109)

marygracewriting2 Comments

Darkness can be oppressive.

A weight that drags, a fear that binds.

Darkness blinds us, but light in concentrated amounts shone in the middle of darkness can also blind us.

Illumination is deceptive, when it shows only a portion of the truth, not the whole story.

If you are trapped in a tunnel, following that light can be just as scary as walking deeper into the shadows. It can be even more painful.

So what do we do, when we are faced with such choices?

Stop, and look around, what does the light show you? What does it hide?

Literally and figuratively the time we take to gather information is so important. Then comes a moment of trust that a light has been placed where it is for a reason.

Sometimes it’s impossible to tell if that light is a light pointing the way to freedom, or warning us. I can’t promise you will make the right choice if you take stock before moving forward. I have been blinded in this way more than once in my life, but one thing I know… Moving forward is always better than sitting in my darkness to rot.

Have you ever had to face a blinding light or painful truth? Tell me about it.

Copyright © Mary Grace van der Kroef

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Find them HERE

Six Word Story (108)

marygracewritingLeave a comment

Rains of blessings or rains of sorrow, both have the potential to overwhelm when everyday eminence has been ignored. When was the last time you checked all those necessary drains? Yes the ones that might be built into the street outside your house, go remove those forgotten leaves. But also, the outlets you have built into your life, the things you do or the people you know that let you drain the overflow of emotions when you need to.

You do have them, don’t you?

If you don’t have them, it’s time to pray about digging that drain, praying for a friend, or finding that activity that will help you decompress. I know it’s not easy. I personally find the ‘people’ part of it hard. But they are important.

When God blesses you with them, it’s time to maintain them. Don’t forget them.

Maybe you ARE that for other people. You need matinence as well. Don’t be content to sit there and let your grate rust. You are important, your friendship is invaluable. It’s okay to raise your voice every once in a while and remind us others that you need help removing that debris built up around you.

I’m also still working on the ability to remind the people that walk above me that I need that help. Don’t be ashamed if it doesn’t come naturally. Got any tips on how to take care of those forgotten outlets? Tell us in the comments.

Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Find them here!

Six Word Story (107)

marygracewriting3 Comments

What does the word intimacy stir within you? For each of us it’s probably quite different, and yet the same, with flashes of moments spent with lovers or dreams of the ones we wish had wandered into our lives to stay but didn’t. But is that what intimacy really is?

I have learned it is only a small scratch on this word’s surface.

Intimacy needs have nothing to do with physical love or desire at all. True intimacy between life partners goes much deeper than alone sex could ever take you, and often the intimacy of friendship is much healthier.

It’s something every human soul longs for at our core.

Reaching for it makes us vulnerable.

Vulnerability is terrifying, but without it, true intimacy can never be achieved.

Have you experienced true intimacy? Are you still looking for it?

I would love to hear anything about your experiences and thoughts about it in the comments below. It’s a topic I think a lot about.

Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef

Photo sourced from Unsplash.com

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Available titles by Mary

Six Word Story (106)

marygracewriting2 Comments

I know the staircase has a landing, even when I can’t see it. There is no such thing as a staircase without a landing for staircases are meant as a road to take you up or down to ARRIVE at your destination.

Still, if I stand at the bottom and look up through the maze of curving handrails, it looks like that walkway is neverending. What a weight that perception holds…

I can feel it even when I know it can’t be true.

Perceptions, they can be so deceptive.

But that weight can be overcome by the knowledge that A staircase HAS to have an ending added to information gathered along the journey once we start the climb. Do we pass floors? Do they have numbers to tell? What information did I gather before entering the building, like how many floors are there?

By doing this, we can turn a 2-dimensional perception into a 3-dimensional prediction/map.

Don’t let the weight of perception alone crush you. Reach out, look around, and ask for help.

Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef

Photo sourced from unsplash.com

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Available titles by Mary

Self Controle

marygracewriting2 Comments

To have control
or persevere?
Sometimes the difference isn’t clear.

Intertwined
as braided strands,
taking turns on who commands.

Stand in check,
Is this the way?
Will this, a bit of self betray?

Know the road,
make a goal,
continue on in self-control.

Or hold a line,
say not today,
anger will not have its prey.

Wisdom wields
both as a team,
for neither is the one supreme.

Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Available titles by Mary

Between the Lines/A Touch of Grace

marygracewritingLeave a comment

Several months ago I had the privilege of being speaking with Randy Lacy, host of the Between the Lines podcast. Our episode recently aired and I am excited to share it here with all of you.

Randy is a great encouragement to literature of all kinds in Canada and elsewhere. Please visit his website and to more episodes with other great poets and writers. Don’t forget to subscribe to Randy’s channels.

Blind Ambitions Website
Randy Lacy Writer/Dreamer/Poet

Listen to the show on youtube, or find Blind Ampotions on your favourite podcast app.

Between the Lines Podcast Episode: A Touch of Grace, Host Randy Lacy, Guest Mary Grace van der Kroef

Six Word Story (105)

marygracewriting2 Comments

I was given my first pair of glasses at the age of 5. They were purple, and the temple tips were made to wrap around a child’s ear and help hold them in place.

I also remember those first few weeks of using them. They were heavy, the strain hurt my eyes, and I didn’t like them.

But whether or not I liked them, I needed them. Soon I realized I didn’t have to squint all the time, and once I was used to the weight and the focus, my eyes hurt less than before I got them.

I couldn’t read yet but now I could SEE the words on a page and the letters that made them up, but only if I wore those glasses and chose to focus.

There is bounty in focus. But most of the time, it doesn’t come naturally, you have to learn it and chose it.

Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef

Photo sourced from unsplash.com

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Available titles by Mary

Gentleness

marygracewritingLeave a comment

Whispers that linger
in the cup of hand to heart.

Feathers that flutter
on words that lilt and dart.
Leaving presence behind like art.

Strength that guards
in silken threads of web.

Holding back sharp edges
with softest flow and ebb,
minding what is said.

Unrelenting,
unmovable gentleness.

How can one possess
this uncommonness,
that embodies love’s caress?

Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Available titles by Mary

Six Word Story (104)

marygracewritingLeave a comment

Sometimes that last piece of the puzzle is elusive, hiding in the weirdest of places, or managing to crawl into the smallest crevice.

But sometimes, you’re just sitting on it. So get up and look!

But just in case you’re not sitting on it doesn’t rush the prosses of searching.

Sometimes it’s not a puzzle piece we are missing, but something more important.

Patience,

Faith,

Hope,

These things get lost too.

It still takes a pause, a think, and even a prayer, to find them again.

Don’t forget to take that time, and when it’s most challenging, bring a second set of eyes into the search.

Friends are worth more than gold.

Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef

Photo sourced from unsplash.com

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.