To be a constant
unwavering mass
To last
To hold knowledge
open handed
honestly
To choose a path
and follow through
thoroughly
Never giving up
Never backing down
faithfully
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Safety is something we all look for and when we find it we hold on with abandon. But is safety always, safe? Too quickly it can become complacency and compliance becomes stagnant, eating away at us as below, rotting our foundations.
What protects can become a cage if we are not careful.
What preserves that balance?
The knowledge that sometimes it’s better to let go than to hold on. Vigilance, and an open ear, waiting for the words.
“It’s time to move.”
I don’t always hear them on time, often I even ignore them.
Do you?
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
Goodness done, spreads out like flowing water, touching lives in ripples, gentle waves.
Goodness withheld is missed like a blown kiss, or forgotten rains.
Goodness, action or being? God gives no man this name.
Yet we can walk the path he paved and read each stone footprints engraved
with Goodness spelling out his love, in actions pure, true. Feel the marks he left behind, a map of Kindness for man’s use.
Be it under tumultuous waves, or across a barren earth. May bared feet find Goodness sweet, though blinded, deaf and mute.
Feeling for the good embrace of imprints sacred bed. Walking in His footsteps, know by His Goodness we’re fed.
So sending out His ripples as we slosh through days and nights. Touching countless others with waves of gentle might.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Goodness saw publication at Agape Review on august 21st, 2021
I have an intimate understanding of winter.
I have felt the bite of -45 temperatures, the grind of shovelling mountains of snow, the loneliness of dark gray days.
I am thankful for each of these things.
Winter goes with its dangers, but so does summer.
Just as the sun of summer holds a blessing, so does the blanket of winter.
Without an adequate snowfall in Northern Canada, wildfire season rages in the summer.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
Available Titles by Mary
This week I am celebrating breaking even on the publishing costs for my Words of Weight Poetry collection. SO, I have decided to offer all of you this collection for FREE for a limited time.
This collection is only available in ebook from Amazon at this time, and right now you can pick it up for free or read it with Kindle unlimited.
Thank you for celebrating with me. ENJOY!
A single act
word
or gesture.
The power to propel
guard
or gather.
Embodies compassion,
making it action.
A smile
or nod,
unexpected applaud.
Really seeing,
being
present.
Kindness
is mindful,
refuses to stifle
when it can’t understand.
Knows God’s hand
has the end
planned.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Available titles by Mary Grace van der Kroef
There was life and when it passed it left an absence behind.
That gap gives structure as it works alongside presence.
Look for the stories of absence. They are everywhere, just like the stories of those that help are always present in the middle of tragedy. We need both as surely as we need bread.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
Available Titles by Mary Grace van der Kroef
Patience isn't passive
but A power held in check,
ready when Time comes
to move Inexorably forward.
PatiencE shows a passion
for peace iN bite sized nuggets
unafraid of silenCe
wisE in gauging climates.
©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Available titles by Mary Grace van der Kroef
We usually leave our Christmas Tree up until the end of January. We can’t always get a real tree, but in the years we do it’s a slow battle with falling needles and my love for the scent of natural pine.
We watch as the moisture slowly leaches from branches despite regular watering. This tree was cut and its time has come.
Ironic that my love for a living thing pushed me to kill it.
It reminds me of that someone who was born long ago, just to die.
You might ask why I am writing about this now, Christmas is over, isn’t it? Our open celebration of it might be, but it is always a reminder and an arrow pointing to another tree cut long ago. We are in an in-between time, the perfect time to remember.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Available titles by Mary Grace van der Kroef
Present places
present faces
in the moment here with you
Touching sunlight
touching evening
side by side in all I do
In comings
follow goings
always knowing you have space
Quiet moments
hectic motions
anchored inside grace
Such protection
unseen deflection
learning ever to remain
In the sphere
of your promise
knowing every tear of pain
is treasured
measured
in the palm of your hand
Ensuring
your enduring
present peace before me spanned
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Titles by Mary Grace van der Kroef
Mary Grace Writing 