Have your eyes ever held onto someone else’s during labor, an earthquake, storm, tumult? And, while conflict and terror rage around you, you feel safe held in that eye contact – you feel the calm, the courage, the strength coming through the space between you. You know, whatever happens, you’re not alone.
I want to be that for you. Look here. Look at me. You’re not alone. I’m with you in the storm. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
***
Holding eye contact with God – with Truth, Life, and Love – focused on what’s true. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
Sun Shining Through the Clouds. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.
Something happened that really touched me today. It was Scott’s last day of the quarter at WWU and, unbeknownst to me, he brought in one of my books – Are You Taking Me Home Now?: Adventures with Dad – as a prize for whichever student was the first to find out who’d painted the highest painting in the world. “Dee Molenaar?” one of his students asked, after a quick search. And she got my book! Scott explained to the class that Dee Molenaar was his father-in-law and that his wife had written the book. It just really warmed my heart that Scotty thought my book was worthy of being a prize.
I just had a wonderful drive with Alison Krauss. Well, okay, Alison Krauss wasn’t actually in the car with me. But her voice was. And it was lovely.
I was driving home, after a visit with my parents, and just as I got to Seattle big, fluffy snowflakes started floating down around me. It was like being inside one of those glass bubbles that has “snow” trapped inside it. It was dark, and the snow made it even more difficult to see, but I was suddenly filled with such a sense of peace and joy, that driving felt more like a celebration than a hazard. I’d put an Alison Krauss CD in my car’s CD-player, and, as the snow started falling, her delightful riff leading into the Beatles’ “I Will” filled my car with a playfulness and a joy that was almost tangible. I realized that the cars around me were moving in complete harmony with me and with the song – it was like we were all doing a happy dance together – perfectly-timed and choreographed.
“Who knows how long I’ve loved you? You know I love you still…” I’d always thought those words and that song were romantic – it was a song I’d sung at least once at a wedding. But now I found those words and that song taking on a different meaning for me. My mom’s sweet, smiling face came into focus in my thoughts and I held her there for a moment – just completely filled with the joy of the love we share for each other. Then my dad came through my thoughts, and I mentally hugged him; then my husband, my sons, my co-workers, my bosses, my neighbors, my friends – even those with whom I’d had conflict – one-by-one passed through my thoughts. And as each new face appeared I mentally wrapped love and joy around my thoughts of that person. The playful, irrepressible joy of that song, and Krauss’s performance of it, simply could not be overthrown or trampled down. Anger and frustration had no choice but to melt away before the happy onslaught of banjos and love.
It was a transforming experience for me, and when the snow finally stopped falling and the song had ended, I felt like I’d just been privileged to be a part of something magical and wondrous. The feeling of joy still lingers.
Later I thought some more about the song and its words:
“Who knows how long I’ve loved you You know I love you still Will I wait a lonely lifetime? If you want me to, I will. I love you forever and forever Love you with all my heart Love you whenever we’re together Love you when we’re apart. And when at last I find you Your song will fill the air Sing it loud so I can hear you Make it easy to be near you For the things you do, endear you to me Oh, you know I will, I will”
And it occurred to me that God, Love itself, could sing those words to you and me. How long has God loved us? Forever and ever and for always. She loves us when we’re near Her in our thoughts, and She loves us when we’re not. She loves us when we know Her, and She loves us when we don’t. And we are dear and precious to Her. “I will, I will,” are our Father-Mother God’s words and promise to us. Unconditional, unfailing love is ours to give, and ours to receive.
Is it selfish of me to feel joy when there are people dying? Or is it selfish of me NOT to feel joy when I’m able and can share it with those who need it? -Karen Molenaar Terrell
Grateful to be alive. Grateful for sunshine through my window. Grateful for the fragrance of spring.
Field of Daffodils (Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
My mother-heart breaks today. Stop! Stop sending our world’s children into wars they don’t want. Their lives are worth more than that. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth… the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places…” -Isaiah 43
“The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity.” -Mary Baker Eddy
“Universal Love is the divine way in Christian Science.” -Mary Baker Eddy
I felt a spark of hope inside me – a moment when I remembered what it was like before the invasion before the insurrection before the division in our nation and our world – a distant memory of good will and peace.
And remembering, I believe again. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
My dear Humoristian hooligans – Let’s have a good day today. Let’s find something to laugh about. Let’s find a way to be kind. Let’s find some small victory in today. May we all help bring some light to our world. Karen
Let all that now divides us Remove and pass away, Like shadows of the morning Before the blaze of day. Let all that now unites us More sweet and lasting prove, A closer bond of union, In a blest land of love. – Jane Borthwick, Hymn #196 in the Christian Science Hymnal
a field of gold sunflowers Ukraine’s national flower tenacious, unbending, showing the irrepressible power of beauty and joy that grows beyond boundaries grows beyond war
the song of a nightingale Ukraine’s national bird uplifting, soaring, free-sailing singing a song heard beyond boundaries over battles above the clamor of war -Karen Molenaar Terrell
A Ukrainian woman, a Russian tennis champion, a Russian hockey star, 13 Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island, and the president of Ukraine have emerged as heroes in the last week. We see all of them confronting the world’s schoolyard bully – sometimes with sorrow, sometimes with anger, and always with unwavering courage. I pray for them, for the people of Ukraine, and for the Russian soldiers, too, who don’t want to be there – who were told by their commanders that they were going on “training exercises,” never wanted to be part of an invasion, and now just want to go home.
“Bloodshed, war, and oppression belong to the darker ages, and shall be relegated to oblivion.” – Mary Baker Eddy
“Love for mankind is the elevator of the human race; it demonstrates Truth and reflects divine Love…” – Mary Baker Eddy
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 