Category Archives: inspiration

When Moz Was Here

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I just republished Since Then, a book of poetry I originally published in 2021, to give it a new trim size and make it available outside of Amazon. It should be available to purchase at Barnes and Noble and other bookstores soon.

Here’s a sample:

When Moz Was Here

A comforting ritual – baking
the annual Thanksgiving pies
connects me to Thanksgivings
past – decades of home and love,
laughter, food, memories of those
who’ve newly-arrived, and those
departed. This year will be
the first Thanksgiving without
Moz. And as I pour blackberries
into the pie, I realize these berries
were ones I picked the summer
after she passed, and I wonder
if I might have a left-over bag
of blackberries I picked during
the summer before – when Moz
was still moving among us.
I go to the freezer in the garage
and root amongst the frozen bags,
digging, searching – and there!
I find a bag of berries marked
2016! And now a part of the world
that still held Moz in it is in
this year’s Thanksgiving pie.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell




Dolphin Ring

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podcast link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/karen-molenaar-terrell/episodes/The-Dolphin-Ring-e2fo8ma

My oldest son was born 32 years ago next month. The moment I became a mother, I changed profoundly as a human being. Here was a little life that meant more to me than my own life. Here was someone I would die for – without a second’s thought.

I instantly felt connected to every mother in the universe. I hadn’t really noticed babies before I became a mother myself, but when I became a mother I suddenly discovered that there were babies everywhere! I found my motherly instincts coming out with every baby I encountered – I cooed and played peekaboo and never hesitated to hold a baby other parents handed to me when their hands were full.

Becoming a mother changed who I was as a teacher, too. Now when I looked at my students’ faces I could see them as their mothers saw them. In fact, after I became a mother I found it easier to see EVERYone as their moms might see them. It opened up a whole ‘nother world to me – a world where I better understood my connection to everyone on this planet.

Five months after I birthed my oldest son, I celebrated my first Mother’s Day as a new mom. My own mom sent me $50 for that Mother’s Day. I wanted to buy something special with that money – something that I could keep forever to remember my mom, and to celebrate my own motherhood.

I went to our local mall – at that time our mall was a lively, busy place, filled with big department stores and little kiosks. At one of the kiosks I found a silver ring that depicted two dolphins swimming alongside each other. In my mind I saw a mother dolphin swimming alongside her baby dolphin – protecting and guiding him. That ring seemed perfect for Mother’s Day!

I loved that ring and what it represented for me, but at some point – I can’t remember exactly when now – it got put in a jewelry box with other rings and I lost track of it.

And this month I found it again! I put it on – and discovered another cool thing about this ring: although my fingers are no longer size 4, the ring bends to fit my fingers – it adapts to who I am now.

When I put on my dolphin ring, I remembered my mom’s gift to me that first Mother’s Day. I pictured her sweet face smiling at me. I could hear her voice. I told her that I understand now – I understand things I didn’t understand 32 years ago. I understand her sacrifices. I understand how much I took her love and support for granted. I understand the joy she must have felt when she became a grandma, and I understand now how it feels when your children fly from the nest to make their own lives – the pride when they unfold their wings and take to the air, and the closing of a chapter as they become specks on the horizon in their flight.

When I was a young mother I embraced the sacrifices that a young mother makes. But now I understand the sacrifices a mother with grown children makes – and they are just as real and just as noble. I didn’t appreciate what Mom sacrificed as we grew up and made our own lives. She never asked for more time with us – she knew we were busy – but I remember that Christmas Eve night when I showed up at Mom and Dad’s house unannounced and I remember the look of joy on my mom’s face when she came down the hallway and saw me sitting at her table. I’m so grateful now that I gave her that Christmas Eve night. I wish I had been able to give her more.

My dolphin ring links me between two generations – links me between my mom and my sons. And I’m so grateful for all of the love this ring represents.

A Smile from the Cosmos

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Up in the middle of the night.
Battling fears. Battling dismay.
Something catches the corner
of my eye – I look outside to see
a little star sparkling at me –
flashing red to blue –
above all my fears
above my dismay –
a reassuring light in the darkness.
A promise. A smile from the Cosmos.
“You are my precious child.”
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

podcast link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/karen-molenaar-terrell/episodes/A-Smile-from-the-Cosmos-e2fo93t

New Book: Cosmic Kinship

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I have a new book on the market. It’s the second book in my Cosmic Celebrations series and I had such fun putting this one together – so many good memories of meeting new friends and reconnecting with old friends. Cosmic Kinship: Celebrating Community can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and most bookstores. If you click on the “Look Inside” link or “Read sample” on this link, you can read a free sample.

Without Love, We Have Nothing

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When I first woke up this morning I was feeling scared and beyond hope for our world. Doomed, you know? And then something happened – something changed in my thoughts. I’m sitting here, trying to trace back what caused the change, and I’m not sure, exactly.

Maybe it was learning in the first post I saw on Facebook this morning that a friend who’s been trying for years to get pregnant just learned she was expecting. Or maybe I started thinking about how my friend, Janie, and her husband, showed up at my doorstep last night with cookies. Or maybe I was thinking about my little granddaughter in Australia. But I suddenly felt Love touching my shoulder and smiling at me, and the hymn “Tender Mercies” came into my thoughts.

I found Lisa Redfern’s version of the song on Youtube, and I’ve been listening to it. So beautiful. So pure.

I feel like the sun is rising in my thoughts – like light is rising over the hills and filling the dark places in my inner landscape. I’m feeling hope.

As long as we can feel love, there’s hope. I know this maybe sounds naive and simplistic – but I know there’s power in Love. I know Love is the only real thing. And as long as we can hang onto it, and live in it, we have everything that really matters. Without love, we have nothing. We can “win wars” and have gazillions of dollars – but without Love, we have nothing.

Actually – that sounds a lot like I Corinthians 13, doesn’t it? “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

And “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

“Love never fails.”

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Let’s keep hope. Let’s keep faith. But let’s especially keep love.

***

I awake each morn to a brand new day,
Singing Hallelujah! as I go on my way,
For my heart is fixed on this one guarantee,
The Love that is All holds me tenderly.

Tender mercies, oh, tender mercies,
Tender mercies are holding me.
Tender mercies, oh, tender mercies,
Tender mercies are holding me.

I can walk in Love through the valley of fear,
Singing Hallelujah! when hope is deferred,
The desert of my longings can’t fulfill,
But Love fills all need and bids want be still.

So no matter the need and no matter the threat,
I’m secure in Your love, no fear, no regret.
Can there be a sweeter comfort, a grace more secure,
Than the thought that your Love is lovingly here?
– Susan Mack

Love the Hell Out of the World

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My dear Humoristian hooligans,

Today may you love the hell out of the world. May you open the floodgates of Love and let Love water the weary hearts athirst for kindness and caring. May you refuse to allow fear and hate to steal your hope and courage. May the bigots, bullies, and busybodies be transformed by your open hearts and good will to all. May the stodgy, stuffy, and stingy be transformed by your irrepressible joy. May you bring laughter to those in sorry need of a good laugh, and hope to those ascared of the future.

Go out there and work your magic, my friends!

Karen

Aren’t We Beyond This Now?

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I went to a movie today at the local theater. Saw the same movie previews I saw a couple weeks ago at the same theater. And I realized something had changed in me in the last two weeks. Two weeks ago when I saw the trailer for Napoleon I was thinking this looked like a movie I wanted to see – great acting, interesting time in history, yada yada.

But today when I saw the same preview, I found myself reacting differently. As cannons were booming and bloody body parts were flying and a tyrant was crowning himself monarch, I found myself feeling… I guess “repulsed” would be the best word. I found myself asking, “Aren’t we beyond this now? Aren’t we done with this, yet? Why are we still making these movies about these egomaniacal men and glorifying the wars they mongered?”

I’m so done with it.

I think at some point in the last couple of weeks I reached some kind of mental and emotional tipping point. Our world cannot go on as it’s been going on. Things are going to have to change if humanity is going to survive.

War is not the answer.

“Bloodshed, war, and oppression belong to the darker ages, and shall be relegated to oblivion.”
– Mary Baker Eddy


New Review for *Looking Forward*

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I just got a new review on Goodreads for Looking Forward: More Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist. The reviewer filled my heart with her kindness. I really needed her kindness today. Here’s what H. Benson wrote:

Karen’s message is one of LOVE’s ability to carry us through the ups and downs of daily life as well as support us and provide hope in these crazy times when the world seems to have gone mad.

I’ve had the pleasure of reading 3 of Karen Molenaar Terrell’s books, the most recent being “Looking Forward,” which I’ve read twice in the past couple of months. It provides solace to the soul as you read of the kindness, love, humor, and compassion that infuses Karen’s life and daily activities with aging parents, husband, adult sons, extended family, pets, and community. She shares about her life with such openness and vulnerability that when you’ve finished reading, you feel like you’ve thoroughly enjoyed catching up with your best friend and you’re looking forward to your next get-together.

All teachers should read Karen’s chapter on education. The country and the world would be a far better place if teachers shared Karen’s perspective on students and incorporated her creative ways of sharing academic lessons and life’s wisdom with students.

Karen’s political campaign gives the reader a taste of how our country’s leaders could and should be: intelligent, passionate, respectful, articulate and kind. How we sorely need that in this world!

The quotations and book references with which Karen begins each chapter have been added to my reading list. If they inspired Karen, they are sure to inspire me.

This “Madcap Christian Scientist” has a heartfelt and hopeful message for all of us: LOVE and a sense of humor are the keys to a fulfilling life.

A Force for Good

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Diane Sue and I had met, once, years ago, at a gathering at a mutual friend’s house. We’d both worked for the same school district then – she as a counselor and me as a teacher. She was one of those people that I immediately connected with; one of those people that I’d never forgotten. She had heart.

A decade later, we reconnected again when Diane’s close friend, Noemi Ban, a Holocaust survivor, died at the age of 96. Diane knew that I loved Noemi, too.

I’d come to know Noemi when I’d invited her into my school to speak to our students about her experiences during the Holocaust. After Noemi had given her talk, she asked me if I’d drive her back to her home, and invited me to come in. The first thing I’d seen when I’d stepped through the door was a framed photo of Noemi’s family before the Holocaust – her mother and father and siblings. Noemi and her father had been the only survivors, and this photo – which her father had found in the rubble of their house after the war – was the only photo left of her family.

Noemi embodied love and forgiveness and strength. There was a powerful presence in her compact form.

After she died, Diane began to put together the story of Noemi’s life Noemi had asked her to write. When she was nearing completion of the book, Diane sent me a copy of the manuscript to get my feedback.

Here’s my response to Diane:

Dear Diane Sue –

It is two in the morning and I just finished the book and I’ve got tears pouring down my face. Wow. You and Noemi have created a masterpiece together. This book – her story – is so beautiful! You’ve captured Noemi’s essence beautifully.

I’m always a little nervous when someone asks me to read a manuscript – I’m never sure what I’m going to find waiting for me – but you are a wonderful writer! I’m so glad you stepped up to do this for Noemi – and for all the rest of us, too.

I’ll attach the manuscript with my suggestions highlighted in red – but these are just suggestions, and there is absolutely nothing you need to do with them.

Your writing is exceptional, and this book is perfect!

Love,
Karen

Diane published Remarkable Resilience in April 2022 and invited me to be a part of the Zoom book launch. I felt so honored by her request.

Diane asked me to join her for a walk in Bellingham not long after this. It was such a joy to spend time with Diane one-on-on, talking about our community and Noemi, education and the world. I remember apple blossoms were blooming on the wild apple trees along our walk, and everything was new and green. It seemed fitting that I should be walking with Diane on a sunny spring day when the world was starting to wake up from the winter.

Like Noemi, Diane is a powerful, but gentle presence. Like Noemi, she is a force for good.

It is a blessing to know her.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

“And Loss Is Gain”

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podcast link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/karen-molenaar-terrell/episodes/And-Loss-Is-Gain-e2fof90

A “short” I wrote entitled “No Separation in Love” appears in November’s Christian Science Journal. (An audio recording of the article is available, too.)

In my newest book, Looking Forward: More Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist, I talk more about my experience with loss in the chapter titled “And Loss Is Gain.” I think that chapter dovetails really well with the short in the Journal. There are details you’ll find in the Journal article that you won’t find in my book, and there are details in my chapter you won’t find in the Journal article.

Here’s the chapter from my book:

“And Loss Is Gain”

“O make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.”
– Mary Baker Eddy, “Mother’s Evening Prayer”

When I learned Andrew and Christina might be moving to, literally, the other side of the world, I went through a period of deep mourning. It felt like someone I loved had died – like another huge loss in a long series of huge losses.

And then I started pulling together all the tools I had been collecting over the years – the insights and healings and epiphanies – and I constructed a bridge for myself over the deep mourning.

I remembered the dream I’d had when the sons had first started moving out of the house and creating their own lives: In the dream I was in some building that just went on forever. I was walking in a leisurely pace from room to room, and periodically this voice would ask, “Karen, do you want to turn around or not?” I’d grin like it was a joke, and just keep moving forward. I didn’t want to turn around. I didn’t want to go back. I didn’t want to be like Lot’s wife in the Bible, who turned around and became a pillar of salt – fixed in time. I didn’t want to yearn for what WAS, but I wanted to look forward to what was to come.

And then I remembered the time when my youngest son showed me yet another tattoo he’d had etched on himself, and I’d felt so grieved that he was covering his beautiful skin with these permanent etchings that I’d reached my thoughts out to God for help. The voice of Love had immediately answered my prayers with these words, “Xander doesn’t belong to you. He belongs to himself and he belongs to Me. What he does with his body and his life is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Xander is fine, and will always be fine. And so are you.” I’d immediately felt the fears and grief lift from me. And when, the next day, Xander showed me the new tattoos on his knuckles, I found myself saying to him, “Oh! Those are cool! What do they mean?” He’d looked a little surprised by my reaction, and then he’d gone through and told me what each tattoo meant – the pine tree represented the Pacific Northwest; the top hat and smiley face represented humor; the mountain range represented our family heritage; the feather represented freedom; and the crown represented purpose. Isn’t that beautiful?

Another tool I pulled out was the memory of a time when my family was scattered out across the United States – I was in Chicago for my Christian Science Association, Andrew was living in Los Angeles, Xander and Scott were in Washington State – and I had a sort of revelation. Did our physical separation in any way weaken my love for my family? Did the fact that we weren’t in close physical proximity in any way make me love my sons and husband less? The answer, of course, was no. And then I thought about the loved ones who have died through the years and realized that death hasn’t stopped me from loving them, either. It became clear to me that NOTHING can separate us from the love we have for each other.

One morning, a couple of weeks after I’d learned of Andrew and Christina’s possible move, I woke up feeling full of joy. I walked out and stood on our back deck in the sunshine, breathed in the morning air, and listened to the birdsong. The thought came to me that something amazing is coming. I realized that not only does God have wonderful plans for Andrew and Christina, and Xander and Kyla, but She has wonderful plans for me, too.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

My new grandbaby and me getting acquainted.