Earlier this week – at the end of a long, dark day – I looked out the window and saw this – a blessing, a promise, a symbol of diversity, a symbol of peace and hope. I really needed this right then…
Peace
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Author Archives: Karen Molenaar Terrell
The Best Prayer of All
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Unbounded Love
The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space. That is enough!
– Mary Baker Eddy
NASA photo of Sirius
Love Rules!
My thoughts have been turning a lot lately to one of my favorite hymns in The Christian Science Hymnal – “Love” – with words by Mary Baker Eddy…
Love
Brood o’er us with Thy sheltering wing
‘Neath which our spirits blend
Like brother birds, that soar and sing,
And on the same branch bend.
The arrow that doth wound the dove,
Darts not from those who watch and love.
If thou the bending reed would break
By thought or word unkind,
Pray that His spirit you partake,
Who loved and healed mankind:
Seek holy thoughts and heavenly strain,
That make men one in love remain.
Learn, too, that wisdom’s rod is given
For faith to kiss, and know;
That greetings glorious from high heaven,
Whence joys supernal flow,
Come from that Love, divinely near,
Which chastens pride and earthborn fear.
Through God, who gave that word of might
Which swelled creation’s lay:
“Let there be light, and there was light.”
What chased the clouds away?
‘Twas love whose finger traced aloud
a bow of promise on the cloud.
Thou to whose power our hope we give,
Free us from human strife.
Fed by thy love divine we live,
For Love alone is life;
And life most sweet, as heart to heart
Speaks kindly when we meet and part.
– Mary Baker Eddy
Love rules!
This Planet Has Her Own Stamps!
As I discovered this afternoon when I went to buy stamps at the little post office near Moz and Dad’s place, the United States Postal Service, possibly anticipating the kerfuffle that might arise from a riled-up riffraff, has shown remarkable good sense in issuing a very special stamp.
There were several different styles of stamps to choose from at the post office: there were the traditional “Old Glory” stamps, some National Park stamps, and an offering of planet stamps, too. I had a hard time choosing between the National Park stamps and planet stamps – but finally went with the planet stamps. “You only get 16 stamps with the planets,” the postal chap told me, “but you can get four more if you buy the Pluto stamps.”
“Oh!” I cried eagerly, when he brought out the Pluto stamps. “Oh! Yes – I’d like some Pluto stamps to go with the other planet stamps, please.”
And this is when the postal chap informed me that, by the way, Pluto is no longer considered a planet.
“I am a member of The Society of Upholders of Righteous Indignation over the Egregious Demotion of the Planetary Status of our Glorious Pluto group on Facebook,” I told him in a huff, “and no one has the right to take away Pluto’s title.”
After a moment’s thought the postal chap had to agree with me. Who did those scientists think they were, anyway?! Who decided THEY should be the ones who determine what constitutes a planet and what does not?! Right?!
Right. Once a planet, always a planet, I say.
And how cool is it that the USPS gave Pluto its very own stamp series? Take that, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune!
And here is a picture of the Pluto stamps in all their glory:
Pluto Stamps
You Will Bring Love
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Let’s Not Stop Fighting for the Ideas, Okay?
I took my Bernie bumper sticker off my car before I left for work yesterday morning. Bernie Sanders had a noble and honorable run for the presidency. I believe he accomplished a lot that was good and important during his bid for the White House, and I’m beyond grateful to him for that. But, for me, it was never about rooting for a personality – it was always about the ideas Bernie supported. I’ve always tended to follow ideas more than people. People die or they don’t get elected or whatever, but the ideas live on. Let’s not stop fighting for the ideas, okay?
My Bernie bumper sticker.
Lincoln and Bush in the Same Lump?!
The weapons of bigotry, ignorance, envy, fall before an honest heart.
– Mary Baker Eddy
This will maybe tell you something about me. When President Obama got elected the first time and my friends and I were all excited and celebrating, someone – or probably a bunch of someones – said how awesome it was that we had finally elected an African-American to be our president. And – honest to goodness – up until that moment this hadn’t even occurred to me. When I voted for Barack Obama I was just voting for the person I thought was going to make the best POTUS. His race had never entered into any of my political conversations or been any kind of factor for me in deciding that I would like him sitting in the Oval Office.
Just as I don’t believe people should be denied equal rights because of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, non-religion, or sexual orientation – I don’t believe we should vote someone into the presidency just BECAUSE of her or his race, ethnicity, gender, religion, non-religion, or sexual orientation. There is too much at stake to focus on a person’s color or gender as a deciding factor in a presidential election.
So when I came across this while internet surfing, I was… well, “dismayed” might be the right word…
emoji art by Laura Olin
To lump all “white guys” into one big monolithic group doesn’t feel right to me. To put Abraham Lincoln in the same lump as, say, George W. Bush, is… well, it’s a little appalling, isn’t it? To paint FDR with the same brush as Herbert Hoover just because they both happened to be males is, I believe, a kind of bigotry.
If we’re going to vote for a woman for President, it would be awfully nice if we did it for the right reasons rather than just because she happens to have two x chromosomes. To vote for a woman just because she happens to be a female seems… well, in a roundabout way it’s disrespectful to the female candidate.
Okay. That’s all I have to say about this, I guess.
Carry on then…
How cool is this?!
Well, HERE is a cool thing – and I know my fellow writers will appreciate the full coolness of this: I just brought one of my books, Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist, up on Kindle and discovered that people have been highlighting some of the passages in there! I know, right?! How cool is that?! And yes, my readers are obviously people of great good judgment and perspicacity. 🙂
Ahem. Okay, so there aren’t, like, scores and scores of passages highlighted or anything. I mean. Well, there are three. But three is more than two, right? And two is more than one. So. Yeah.
Anyway. Here they are:
From the chapter about our Christmas Dog –
from Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist
From the “Car Stories” chapter –
From Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist
And from the chapter titled “Mental Malpractice” –
From Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist
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Okay. There you go. Thank you so much for letting me share this milestone with you!
Carry on then… 🙂
Don your tights and play your kazoos…
12:05 am, June 8
My dear Humoristian hooligans –
Yup, I am still up. Before I go to bed I wanted to send out a message to you to tell you how very glad I am to know you are on this planet with me. If you’re feeling discouraged or ascared or alone – know that you have a whole community of people who are working for the same things you’re working for, who care, and who are blest by your kindness. You have a reason to be here – a purpose. You are here to love and to spread laughter. You are a hero. So don that cape and those tights. Put on the Groucho glasses and play the kazoo. You have work to do, my hooligan friends. Go out there and spread your magic. I mean.You know. After you get a good night’s sleep.
xoxoxo
Karen
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 