He didn’t say
we wouldn’t weep while we waited.
He didn’t say
feeding the lantern’s flame,
wouldn’t singe.
He didn’t promise,
finding oil would be easy.
Only “Be ready,”
and the Spirit will with you sit.
©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef
The presence of light has such power. It can illuminate or bind us.
Darkness shreds in the presence of even a single flame.
It sets a mood and tells a story.
It’s an element that shouts volumes, with just a whispered presence.
Light is energy. Without it, growth is impossible.
Nature has a way of reclaiming what man uses and then forgets.
It doesn’t see our castoffs as no longer needed, it knows that it’s all still a part of the matter making up this world.
We can’t separate it out.
As nature reclaims its own pieces from the aftermath of us, it has its own stories to tell us.
Will we take the time to read them?
Stones remember, even when understanding is lost and history is forgotten.
Stones remember.
©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photos sourced from unsplash.com
My kids were watching Brain Child the other day. The show was talking about creativity. I caught the part about how as you age you can lose it. “Now don’t you feel bad for your Mom and Dad?” I asked. They answered with a resounding, “YES!”
It’s true that “adulting” is not always conducive to living a creative life. It can drain us of our energy. Bills to pay, responsibilities to take care of, expectations to live up to.
Later, I was still thinking about it. I asked myself, “so what are you going to do about it?” It’s my creativity, it’s my job to make sure I don’t let it die.
See, I know what it is like to go for years, unable to create. Do you? Those were painful years. My head was in a terrible place. I stayed there way too long. I hadn’t written or drawn anything for years. Then a friend invited me to a paint night at a local artist’s gallery. I can never thank that friend enough. The joy I experienced that night while pushing paint around on a canvas was painful. I was like a dead thing coming back to life.
I loved it so much I asked all my sisters and closest friends to go with me again for my birthday. The night we went I was exhausted, cranky, and had a migraine. When I left I felt alive. My headache gone. Now the weeks and months I don’t get to paint regularly, I feel the activities absence. It becomes an ache inside of me.
Every human being is capable of creativity. Not only capable, but it is part of what makes us human. I believe creativity lives inside of YOU. Do you?
After finding my love of painting, suddenly the words inside of me came back to life. I have been writing like a mad woman ever since. Creativity lights the human spirit. It gives us wings. When we feed it, it grows and multiplies.
In the middle of a global pandemic, the entire world is tired, lonely, and stressed. I want to encourage you to be creative. If you don’t think your creative, your wrong. Get out the paper and crayons. Or maybe going for a walk outside and collecting leaves to make a collage is more your style. Go to the beach and make pictures in the sand. Do you live somewhere, where winter is blowing in like I do? Get or make a zen garden to play with. Make a snowman or crochet a scarf. There are so many ways to let your creativity shine.
Do you know what my favourite part of being creative is? It’s the part where it’s okay to be terrible at what you’re doing. Being good at it really doesn’t matter. It’s the doing that’s important.
So today or tomorrow make something. Then come back and tell me about it. I want to know what you did. Let’s stay creative together, and in doing so, let’s shine on this lonely earth.
When we are creative, I believe we are walking in God’s footsteps. I believe whether or not you share my faith, you where created in the image of God, the very essence of creativity. I can feel his presence when I create. Can you?
©Mary Grace van der Kroef 2020
Photo by Dragos Gontariu on Unsplash
Mary Grace Writing 