All that is needed is a sliver of sunlight to cast darkness into corners.
Sometimes that light reveals that something wonderous has been at work.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
There are worlds of perception above us and worlds of perception below us. We walk across them, hide under them, and forget that our height only shows us one view.
Crouch down low and realize your lawn is a jungle ready to be explored, and the tree canopy above hides homes that are just as important.
It’s a brave thing to explore where you have never been before. It’s also brave to experience newness in surroundings you thought you had memorized like the back of your hand.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
Contrast, we view it every day without realizing how important it is.
What would happen if all contrasts were whipped from the world? Every stark line blurred until we can no longer tell where one thing ends and another begins? I find that thought terrifying.
Depth and meaning would be lost…
This Good Friday I am thankful for contrast, the shadows, the lines, and the ability to tell the difference between good and true evil. I think we need those defining contrasts regardless of how hard they can be to view or experience. I think that is part of the reason why God allows them to exist.
Have a blessed weekend.
Copyright © Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
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
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
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
I am a woman who deals in words and I know their power.
Do you?
They have the power to heal and hurt.
Sometimes they stick like tar that creeps into every crevice, becoming impossible to wash away.
What do we do with such words?
I wash with prayer.
What do you do?
©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
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
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
I remember my red balloon. It was heart-shaped with ‘Happy Birthday’ printed in white letters across one side.
I loved that balloon.
Unfortunately, my parents’ living room ceiling hated balloons of all kinds.
“Hold on to the sting, Mary.” I was told.
But, In the middle of childhood games and enthusiasm I let the string of go and in a startling second… That balloon burst as it touched the brickly popcorn surface.
Now I have a new balloon. But I have learned my lesson. I won’t let my dream touch that prickly ceiling…
How about you?
©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
We have learned to fear silence.
The loneliness, the lack of progress.
When we learn to stop our chatter, pause our industry, we will hear what lays underneath what we fear.
The beat of our hearts, the breath of life, the creaking of growth, the groaning of decay.
When we sit with that thing, we fear, we learn what life really is.
In the learning we find new ways to sing and build around silence.
©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
Mary Grace Writing 