Author Archives: Karen Molenaar Terrell

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About Karen Molenaar Terrell

Karen's stories have appeared in *Newsweek*, *The Christian Science Monitor*, and *Pack and Paddle Magazine* and she's the author of *Are You Taking Me Home Now?: Adventures with Dad*, *The Second Hundred Years: Further Adventures with Dad*, *The Brush of Angel Wings*, *The Madcap Christian Scientist* series, *A Poem Sits on my Windowsill*, *Finding the Rainbows: Lessons from Dad and Mom*, and co-author of *The Humoristian Chronicles: A Most Unusual Fellowship*. Her photos are featured in the spring 2014 edition of the *Bellingham Review*, and the "Photos from the Field" page of the April/May 2017, December/January 2018-2019, April/May 2019, and June/July 2020 issues of of *Mother Earth News*. Her photos can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/60803140@N06/ Her books can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Karen-Molenaar-Terrell/e/B0044P90RQ/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1312060042&sr=8-

This Is God Talking to Me

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I’m praying, but I can’t seem to find God
in my thoughts. I can’t hear Her voice.
It’s 3:00 in the morning when I head
downstairs to read. I sit on the couch
and pull a blanket around me and open
my book. Timid black cat jumps onto
the couch and slowly moves closer to me
until I pull him next to me and he lays
down, belly-up, trusting me, expecting
kindness, and his trust fills me with joy.
And I realize that this is God talking to me.
I pet his belly and click on Facebook’s
messenger on my phone and see
new messages waiting for me.
I open them and find words of love
and comfort and caring and connection
in the voices of my friends.
And I know that this is God talking to me.
The night is still, but I can feel it gently
pulsing with Life and Love. And I am
enveloped in the joy of be-ing.
This is God talking to me.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Blue Cosmos (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)

Disturbing the Waters

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Yes, our country needs to unite – but not behind the KKK, the Nazis, or anyone who uses hate groups as a tool.

And yes, Love is the answer. But Love shouldn’t be confused with that fear-based thing where we stop ourselves from doing and saying what we know needs to be done and said because we’re afraid of “making waves” or we’re afraid of confrontation. Sometimes evil needs to be confronted and called out. We need to love. We don’t need to appease. We don’t need to placate, mollify, or pacify. If someone’s feelings are hurt because we happen to disagree with them – that shouldn’t stop us from saying and doing what we know is right. We shouldn’t let ourselves be controlled by others like that. That’s not Love. That’s being a scaredy cat.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

“Neither sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish error in any form, and certainly we should not be error’s advocate…Attempts to conciliate society and so gain dominion over mankind, arise from worldly weakness….If you venture upon the quiet surface of error and are in sympathy with error, what is there to disturb the waters? What is there to strip off error’s disguise?”
– Mary Baker Eddy

(Originally published in August 2017.)

Ask Yourself: “Is This Helpful?”

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You don’t have to bring the past
into this moment.
You don’t have to bring the pain
with you as you move forward.

Ask yourself:
Is this helpful?
Is this useful?
Is this relevant?
Is there a purpose to this?

If the answer is “no” –
then move on.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

“She could not fix the past and she couldn’t stay trapped there.”
― Janis Wildy, The English Bookshop

Blue Cosmos (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)

Maybe We’re the Lost

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thinking they are lost
we try to preach them “the way”
maybe we’re the lost
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

All Kinds of Magic!

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January 13, 2023

There’s all kinds of magic happening today! I drove up the North Cascades Highway to Concrete to run an errand (and give myself an adventure). As I was pulling into Concrete who should I see but John “Wizard” Bromet the Peace Man! Whoah!! I pulled over and grabbed my “PEACE JUSTICE KINDNESS “ sign out of the back of my car and joined him at the bus stop. We laughed and talked and sang together for a few minutes and then took a quick selfie. It was totally magic to run into John up there!
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

(Here’s a video of John and I singing together a few years ago.)

Claim This Moment

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Claim this moment.
And the next one.
And the next.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

(Cellphone photo of Lake Samish sunrise. See the reflection of the moon? Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

I Need No Other

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Principle is my foundation.
Mind is my guide.
Soul is my music.
Life is my friend
in whom I abide.
Truth is my protector.
Love is my mother.
Spirit is my reality.
I need no other.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Today I Chose Joy

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I woke up to find out that someone(s) had attempted to steal from me – long story involving trickery and someone posing as me in an email. Anyway. At first I was freaked out by this. But then this weird thing happened. I felt this kind of detached calm about it all. I took the steps I needed to take to to try to fix the problem, and then got in my car and drove up to Bellingham for a nice walk on the boardwalk. The sky still had pink in it when I got up there. There were goldeneye ducks and seagulls and cool patterns in the bay. Everyone I passed gave me a friendly smile for a smile. It was lovely.

I stopped at the Colophon and as soon as I walked in the hostess/server asked me if I’d like my favorite peach Arnold Palmer drink – she recognized me! And then she led me back to my favorite seat in the corner. I ordered some avocado toast and sipped my peach tea and just soaked up the happy vibes.

It came to me that I was in control of how I was going to feel. The person who had attempted to steal from me wasn’t the boss of me, and had no say in how I was going to feel about my day.

The server gave me another peach tea to take with me when I left, and I left a big tip in appreciation for the friendly kindness I’d felt at the restaurant – a reminder of all the good folks in the world with me.

Shakespeare wrote: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” And I saw how true that was today. I could choose to be all ruffled and affronted at the way my morning had started. Or I could choose to find joy for myself.

Life isn’t “out to get me.” Life is good.

(Photo below is of a goldeneye duck on Bellingham Bay this morning. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

Affronted by Life

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affronted by life
like it’s some spiteful human
bent on attacking

it flows on, heedless
while I grapple with
the human woes we

all experience
“Nothing is either good or
bad, but thinking makes

it so.” I choose how
I’ll respond to what comes my
way and what I’ll feel

– Karen Molenaar Terrell

Ode to Pencil and Paper and Maps

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Gone are the days of pencil and paper –
of quick mental computation and physical maps.
Now we depend upon calcuators and google,
on thumbs and updates and apps.
And with each update my computer
seems to get slower –
I think right now I could beat it in a race
to find the answers I need
with greater speed
using pencil and paper and maps.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell