Six Word Story (110)

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


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Six Word Story (105)

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


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Six Word Story (99)

The amazing intricacy of the world we live in is staggering.

The science, the art, the spiritual glue, it all connects and rolls together to the ticking of seconds.

It can seem eternal. As our brains measure time, maybe it is.

I do believe that someday there will be an end and time will run out, just as water evaporates from a cup.

But as evaporation is a kind of transformation, our earth, and us, will not really cease but simply change.

I believe God is the one who wrote the rules for these systems as he creates art.

What will he have us change into when the time comes?

I don’t know. But I can dream.

Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef


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Six Word Story (97)

Life is a grinding down of moments, of mass.

Nature takes those fragments and transforms them into something new.

This happens with people too, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

It’s so hard to see past the decay, the destruction.

But if we are brave enough to try, if we trust God has a plan in the middle of grief, we will be shown immeasurable beauty and potential.

He made nature this way for a reason after all.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Six Word Story (95)

Have you ever felt the wind beneath your wings?

Those moments in life when things are going well and the momentum lifts you high above the twisting paths and stones that trip others up?

Have you ever felt tired in those moments of success?

In those highs, we are still working.

The blessing in them is that if we spread out wings of trust they can carry us far while preserving our stamina.

But…

Holding wings open requires strength.

Ride the updrafts, but be vigilant in watching for those places of pause you still need.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Six Word Story (93)

Fruit that is not harvested will fall.

Produce that is not consumed, will spoil.

This is natural.

Not evil.

When they fall they feed the earth by nourishing its smallest creatures.

It’s not their fault if we didn’t have space, time, or the desire to make use of them first.

But…

What about when people fall?

Decay kisses everyone.

Still, it’s not evil. But maybe it is wasteful.

Have you harvested yourself? Used your potential?

I may not be to everyone’s taste, but I am worth harvesting.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Six Word Story (92)

They are designed to blend in. Placed under ledges and hidden corners.

Their messages wind their way through humanity’s busy crowds and we follow them, without realizing they are there.

It’s time to stop, look, and notice. Pay attention and use discernment.

Am I really following the right path?

Maybe we are and maybe we aren’t. Perhaps that answer is different for everyone… I don’t know. I think it’s okay not to know. But it’s still important to ask.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Six Word Story (91)

Do you wear your heart on your sleeves?

Are you an open book to family, friends, and even strangers?

Some might view this as a bad thing, but is it really?

An open and honest heart is a beautiful thing. It means there is natural trust flourishing inside. The gates are not closed. A guard and a lookout are always important things to place at an entrance, and it takes practice to get the balance of open and careful right. But someone who can trust, someone who can share… Their halls are filled with light and trust me, a warm welcome doesn’t mean there aren’t exciting mysteries to discover while getting to know them.

I have often been called an open book in the past, but I found myself losing that natural trust in the last few years.

Today my prayer is we would all learn to once again open our gates and trust.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Six Word Story (86)

Some say Mother Earth and Father Sun. If that is so, then I see Earth as the flirtatious one.

She dances through the nether in living finery of every shade.

I wonder what the rest of the galaxy thinks of her?

She is far from the most powerful. But she is a home, a place to rest.

She is neither tame nor safe. Even so, we cling to her for dear life, pressed to her bosom.

Father Sun is ever her constant companion, unmoving. He lets her dance. Ever patient.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Did We Ask

Did we ask to exist?
Think on it…
A sentient thought that
Could whisper to a woman’s whom
“I’m ready.”
Or…
Perhaps,
As the scene was written
The ghosts within the mind of God
Asked for life,
And he let them free.
Maybe,
We itched with in his ear.
Or twined inside his being.
Pulling,
Begging,
To be.
But perhaps not.
Perhaps we were but silence,
Pregnant with potential.
A question ready to be asked.
A lesson waiting for the right
Scholars interpretation
And that was He.
Maybe…

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef


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