[WID0002] Guest Post by Kemuel: Gracious Growth

Here we are again! And ready to kick off, again. Bear with me and thank you for your patience!
This time we have my lovely cousin Kemuel sharing his beautiful words with us. He is one of my most favorite artists in drawing and writing. He lives in Curaçao and also loves writing in English. I can’t wait to see all the things God has in store for him and am eager to work more often with him and learn from him. Once again the thoughts he shares are at a perfect timing for the season I am in. Thank you, Kemuel. Your first WID guest post of many more to come.

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Gracious Growth

Hi there!
I’m Kemuel Sandries, and I enjoy writing and drawing.

I started writing as an outlet and in time as I read and experienced more it became almost natural for me to express myself through writing. I perceived later on that what I was writing may very well have some utility for others as well and so I started posting them on Instagram.

In my writings, I attempt to make sense of reality the best way I know how as well as offer some encouragement. All while using the bible as a basis for doing so.

I’ve shared one of my poems below as well as some commentary in the form of a blog post.
Hope you enjoy it!

Forest
You can grow into a forest
From a lonesome, tiny seed
Left to die there in the dirt
All abandoned by its peers

You could grow into a tree
Though the dark be all you see
And the elements subject you
To a paralyzing fear

You might be but a speck
Carried away by the winds
But you’re harboring a forest
Laying dormant deep within

So take no heed to rustling leaves
Saying what you see is all you’ll be
For your boundless worth shall be revealed
If you only persevere 

Mini-blog post
You’d be surprised at how fast you can go from seemingly dead, to a seedling, and from a seedling to a fruit bearing tree.

I’ve often questioned the meaning of grace. The type one shows towards oneself. Would it not be better to be hard on yourself to squeeze as much of your potential out as you possibly can? In my experience, there’s great utility in being committed to attaining results, but it’s a slippery slope.

Mental health is real, and human limitations are also real.

By all means, throw yourself into a goal, with the full weight of your dreams, passions and desires. However, know when it’s time to recharge. Know when it’s time to reorient yourself towards the reason why you started. Know when it’s time to shift gears and adapt your strategy and/or execution. Or even when it’s time to simply stop and take stock of how far you’ve come as a means of encouraging yourself. Enter grace.

The truth is no matter how hard we’re pushing, or how great we’re dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s, it’s not always going to feel like we’re winning. It’s not always going to seem like we’re working. Still we shouldn’t let what others (might) think, or even our own intrusive thoughts pull ourselves down. Because the opposite is also true. It might seem like we’re winning, but that doesn’t mean we’re growing. And it might seem like we’re working, while we’re actually not even trying.

God started the process of creation and since He spoke, creation has been chasing what he said ever since. Everything happening in due time, made beautiful in the appropriate time.

It’s really the same when it comes to us.

Sometimes, everything just boils down to trusting God in spite of what we might see. As we make our way up, through the dark and the dirt.