barefoot morning walk
dewy grass tickles my toes
new day greeting me
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Barefoot Morning Walk
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Monthly Archives: July 2022
From the Field: Mother Earth News
My seagull with sea star made it on the back page of Mother Earth News (August/September). This is the sixth time for me (yes, I’m counting 😀), but it still tickles me to see one of my photos in there.
I Float in the Current of Love
I float in the current of Love
carried and buoyed above
all doubts and fears
and pain and tears.
God loves me! – and I feel
the presence and power
of Love unfolding healing
in me. Joy abounds!
I arrive and walk
on holy ground.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
Playing Like a Child Again
Finding magic within the bounds that life gives us
finding magic in the right here, and the right now –
in the sunlight and the rain, a walk around the ‘hood,
in a baby’s smile and a bird’s song and how
a butterfly flits towards the sun.
Creating adventures in the backyard
when life keeps us from the mountains,
bushwhacking through the overgrown garden,
imagining the birdbath is an Italian fountain.
Playing like a child again – simple, organic, free –
without a need to travel far, or for life to bigger be.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Look What’s Blooming!
Maybe 25 years ago, in a magic encounter, a woman in Sedro gifted me with crocosmia bulbs. I planted them in our then home and then dug them up and bought them to Bow when we moved here 20 years ago. I planted them by a stump. Over the years the stump got overgrown and the crocosmia stopped blooming. I sort of forgot about them. But today – look what popped out to say “hi”!
Here’s an excerpt from Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist in which I describe how I acquired these crocosmia:
On my daily walks of five years ago I use to pass this beautiful yard that looked like a park. There were islands of flowers everywhere, all aesthetically placed and pleasing to the eye. It was obvious that the hand of a professional was at work there. But for months I never saw anyone actually working in the garden. I was intrigued. The flowers that most caught my eye in this garden were the long sprays of flame-orange crocosmia that shot out of the islands. I’d never seen this type of plant before – or if I had, I’d never noticed it – but they were hard to miss in this garden.
I found myself lusting after them. Weeks went by and the crocosmia were on their last legs when I finally met the owner of the garden. She was directing a handful of children in the weeding of her garden when I first saw her. She was pretty, lively, and had an aura of positive energy about her, and she was directing her child-helpers from a wheelchair. I walked up to her, shook her hand, introduced myself, and told her I’d been admiring her bright orange flowers for weeks. Laughing, she agreed that they were, indeed, beautiful. She told me they were called “crocosmia” and generously offered to give me some bulbs in the autumn. She didn’t have to offer twice. She gave me her card – I learned she worked at the University of Washington – and told me to call her in October and she’d dig some bulbs up for me.
When October came I was too shy to call. So I just kept walking by her house, hoping she would see me and recognize me. This was a long shot, I knew. This woman was a busy lady and probably met a lot of people on a daily basis – if she even remembered who I was it would be a miracle. But, as we learn in Christian Science, miracles (or rather natural goodnesses) do happen! There came a day when the garden lady was out in her yard as I walked by. She looked up, immediately recognized me, and told me that now was the perfect time to dig up some crocosmia bulbs.
I came home from that walk with a plastic bag brimming with bulbs, feeling like I’d just robbed a candy store. When we moved to Bow several years later and built our new house, I planted those bulbs in my Secret Garden. I think of that pretty lady with the lively spirit, and her generosity to me.
Racial Reliance on Truth
(I thought it was time to bring this one up again. This was originally published on March 22, 2014.)
“The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love.“
– Mary Baker Eddy
Recently a fellow Christian Scientist made a comment on one of my blog posts that got me to thinking (which is always a good thing, right?)
Don wrote: “Mrs. Eddy pushes us to have ‘radical reliance’ on God–an impossible order if one wishes to be ‘fat and happy’ in matter, too. Consequently, some individuals find ourselves taking a ‘halting and halfway position’ in our religion and at that point begin accepting all sorts of logic that veers away from true Christian Science. Loving our fellowman who has opposing views doesn’t mean ‘getting in bed with him.’ …Medicine is a mind-science. Christian Science is Mind (God) Science. There is a dramatic and opposite difference between the two, and we must be careful to keep both feet solidly grounded in that ‘Science’ which does bless us and the world–in spite of how illogical it seems to the materialist or to those of us who want to ‘play nice’ with the world. It all boils down to our responsibility, and it can’t be shirked forever by any one of us. We must take a stand for Truth (God) if we wish to grow out of mortality using the same conviction as is recorded in Psalms ‘Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” (Ps 20:7)’ “
Don’s post got me to thinking about just what “radical reliance on Truth” actually means. Is “radical reliance on Truth” simply a euphemism for “avoiding the use of traditional medical science”? Or does “radical reliance on Truth” mean something else entirely – something bigger, something more?
***
“Only through radical reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized.“
– Mary Baker Eddy
“If we would open their prison doors for the sick, we must first learn to bind up the broken-hearted. If we would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide the talent of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor bury the morale of Christian Science in the grave-clothes of its letter.“
– Mary Baker Eddy
I’m thinking that we need to be careful not to bury the talent of spiritual healing under the “napkin of its form.” Whatever means a person chooses to use for healing – whether it’s naturopathy, traditional medical science, Christian Science treatment, or something else – that’s the form, the means, the method. The morale, or essence, of spiritual healing is Love – Love is the power that heals and transforms us. The God I follow – Love, Truth, Life, Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit (synonyms Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, gave for “God”) – isn’t concerned with what kind of treatment we choose to use – Love is going to remain unchanging Love, and Truth is going to remain unchanging Truth, no matter what form or method we use for physical healing. Truth doesn’t have an opinion on which form of treatment is best for treating disease – because Truth doesn’t know anything about disease, to begin with. Truth knows only perfection. And Truth and Love are synonyms, so doesn’t “radical reliance on Truth” also mean “radical reliance on Love”?
***
“Material methods are temporary, and are not adapted to elevate mankind. “
– Mary Baker Eddy
“If Christian Scientists ever fail to receive aid from other Scientists, – their brethren upon whom they may call, – God will still guide them into the right use of temporary and eternal means. Step by step will those who trust Him find that ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.’” – Mary Baker Eddy
“Christ, Truth, gives mortals temporary food and clothing until the material, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and man is clothed and fed spiritually.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
“Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come naturally into Spirit through better health and morals and as the result of spiritual growth.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
When I choose to use Christian Science for healing I know my thought is going to be “elevated” by the experience, I know I’m going to gain a greater understanding of God and of who I am as her child, and I know I will be transformed – not merely healed physically – but transformed.
I choose to turn to Christian Science for healing because it’s simple, natural, uncomplicated – it’s always available to me no matter where I am, or who I’m with, or what scrape I’ve gotten myself into “this time”. I choose to use my understanding of Christian Science to bring me healing because it has been proven to work for me.
My motives for choosing Christian Science treatment for healing have nothing to do with a fear of what other Christian Scientists are going to think of me, or because I’m concerned God’s going to be angry at me, or because I’m worried about being ex-communicated, or because I’m opposed to something else, or because I’m scared of medical science, or feeling angry, self-righteous, or smug. My motive for turning to Christian Science for healing isn’t because I feel the need to take a “stand for Truth” – Truth doesn’t need me to take a stand for it – it’s not in some battle it might lose – Truth was Truth yesterday, and will remain Truth tomorrow – and nothing I do is going to change that. Truth doesn’t need me to side with it to continue to be Truth.
I use Christian Science because it’s natural for me to do so – it’s natural for me to draw my thoughts close to Love, to wrap myself up in the power of Truth, to free my thoughts to dance in the celebration of LIfe. And it’s natural for me to experience healing by doing so.
And THAT is radical. man!
***
“Students are advised by the author to be charitable and kind, not only towards differing forms of religion and medicine, but to those who hold these differing opinions. Let us be faithful in pointing the way through Christ, as we understand it, but let us also be careful always to “judge righteous judgment,” and never to condemn rashly.“
– Mary Baker Eddy
Everything I Need in Front of Me
What would it be like
To not be weighed down
With the detritus and memories
Of decades and generations ?
Hats and shoes and awards
Artwork and photos and earrings
Scarves and letters and books?
What if I just traveled like a turtle
With my home on my back
And everything I needed
In front of me?
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Even If
I guess we have to just
keep plugging away
and be kind,
and be wise,
and be honest,
and do the best we can
every day.
Even if.
Because what’s the alternative,
right?
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Love Has No Choice
Love has no choice but to love
Truth has no choice but to be true
Life has no choice but to live
I have no choice but to do
the will of my Creator
to express Love
reflect Truth
manifest Life
all we are comes from God
all we can be is what God made us to be –
happy, whole, healthy, and free
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Those Right-Wing Christians Like Christian Scientists Who Don’t Take Their Children to Doctors…”
In response to the woman who recently referred to Christian Scientists as right wingers who don’t take their children to doctors:
I was raised in Christian Science. My mom took me to doctors, dentists AND optometrists. This was no big deaI. My mom never expressed any concern about God being mad at her, or her church excommunicating her, or losing her CS friends over this. She just did what she felt she needed to do to for her children to keep them safe. I raised my own sons in Christian Science and didn’t hesitate to take them to doctors, dentists, and optometrists, either, when I felt the need. Again, no big deal.
Happily, the need didn’t arise very much, though. I learned, as a youngster, the healing power in knowing God as Love, and learned early in my life how to apply the power of Love to meet the challenges in my life (physical, mental, emotional, financial, professional, social, and etc.). Among the healings I’ve, personally, experienced: bronchitis; a puffed-up hand (blood tests my doctor took indicated rheumatoid arthritis – but the hand deflated to normal size in a couple days and I never needed to start medication or see a specialist); sprained ankles; what my optometrist saw as a melanoma on my eyelid; and a massive mental depression.
As for the “right-wing” part: I have voted for a Democrat for president every year since 1984 (well, except for that one year when I voted for Ralph Nader because I knew William Clinton didn’t need my vote to win, and I really liked Ralph Nader). I was a delegate for Obama to the state convention in 2012. I do not think I could be referred to as a “right winger.”
I’ve learned it’s best not to stereotype whole groups of people and try to stick them under a monolithic label.
Please do not tell me what I believe, feel, and think.
– Do not assume because I am a progressive and tend to vote for Democrats that I don’t believe in God, “hate the Bible,” and want to kill babies and take away your guns.
– Do not assume because I believe in God that I am anti-science, believe the earth is flat and the world was, literally, created in seven days.
– Do not assume that because I’m white, middle-aged and named “Karen” I am racist and want to talk to your manager.
– Do not assume that because I identify as a “Christian” I am conservative, opposed to LGBTQ rights, opposed to women’s rights, travel heavily armed, and voted for Trump.
– Do not assume that because I’m a Christian Scientist, I “don’t like doctors.” Some of my favorite people are doctors: my niece is an anesthesiologist; my brother-in-law is an anesthesiologist; my sister-in-law is an RN; and my nephew is an osteopathic doctor. I love them all. They are good people and I know they work very hard to give their patients the best care possible.
I think if we see others in terms of stereotypes we miss out on some beautiful friendships and kinship with our fellow humans.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 