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
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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
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Have you ever come back to something or someplace from your past and found it just as it was before, but to your grief, you no longer fit there?
it can be a shock. We might even deny its ys that have changed and insist it’s everyone and everything besides us. Sometimes there is truth to that, but usually, we have changed far more than we realize.
This is a good thing. It’s a normal, and healthy thing to change. It’s also important to go through that release of what was and even grieve for it for a time if we need to. That pause is part of the adventure.
Let yourself look back, remember, even return to that shell and sniff around. But, please, never stay there. Realize that it’s important to move on again after that visit. Make note of those things you miss, and count them as blessings, for they helped you grow into what you are today.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Some years it’s easy to appear in early spring as the winter snows have already fled. But in other years, it’s hard. A cold crust might form a canopy that only the strongest sun rays push through. Whether it’s easy or hard, it still happens. Nature still forces growth in the hardest of conditions.
Don’t those early, brave few, stand out as all the more beautiful for their start surroundings? In reality, they are not much different from all the others that bloom through the summer, but because they dared to just be, they are our reminder of hope. Spring is coming, and yes, it’s already here.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
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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
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
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
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
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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
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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
Mary Grace Writing 