It just hit me. In the past when I wrote a “Madcap Christian Scientist” book, my mom was one of the first people I’d share it with. She was my biggest fan. And, just now, for a moment, I forgot she was gone, and I thought: I need to give Moz a copy of this. And then I remembered.
Whoah.
I’m on my own with this one.
So this is what I’ve been working on the last month or so. A new book – Looking Forward: More Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist.
It would be a spectacular understatement to say that there have been some new developments since my last Madcap Christian Scientist book, The Madcap Christian Scientist: All Things New, published in 2014. Since that book, my parents moved from their home of 48 years; my mom died; my dad died; friends died; pets died; I retired; the world experienced a pandemic; my country survived an insurrection; new pets arrived; the sons found life-partners and had pandemic weddings; and we have a new grandchild on the way. For example.
And through all the “new developments” I have felt Love with me – guiding and directing me, comforting me, and connecting me to my fellow passengers on this boat of life as we forge our way through high waves.
We have some catching up to do, my friends.
This is the fourth book in the series. In order:
Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist (2005)
The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Middle Book (2012)
The Madcap Christian Scientist: All Things New (2014)
Looking Forward: More Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist (2023)
The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Middle Book (a collection of Christmassy stories) (2014)
(Also available on Kindle.)
Here’s the link to the podcast.
So I was driving through the countryside this morning and I had Allison Krauss playing on my CD player, and her version of “I Will” came on – I always find her banjo-happy version of that song so uplifting – and I was just filled with such joy. A couple of songs later, her song, “In the Palm of Your Hand,” started playing – and I found myself crying with the pure beauty of the words and music.
I’d been working through some fears – the fear of aging, chiefly, and all that comes with aging – the fear of losing our natural immunities and protection as we grow older, the fear of getting worn down and “vulnerable” to disease and whatnot. (This is something that we’ve all had pounded into us constantly since 2020.) And the thought came to me that more solar years don’t somehow put a greater distance between me and God, Love. More years aren’t like more bricks in a wall between me and Love. The further I move from my human birth doesn’t move me further away from Love. Love is right here, right now, wherever I am and however many solar years I’ve lived through – and my Father-Mother, Love, still sees me as Her precious child.
And then I started thinking about a trip I was taking out of state soon, and the thought came to me – “I better stay healthy, because I’m not sure health inurance works when a person is out of state.” And, immediately, that thought was countered with, “No worries. Crossing a state border isn’t going to separate me from God, Love.”
Allison Krauss’s music just seemed to confirm all of that for me this morning. I imagine God saying, “Who knows how long I’ve loved you? You know I love you still…”
I put a dime in the traffic meter
and bought myself four minutes.
And I thought what could I do
with my four minutes?
If I could pay a dime
for four minutes in past time –
what four minutes would I bring
back for myself?
Four minutes with Mom and Dad?
Four minutes with the sons?
Maybe everyone together
around the Thanksgiving table
for four minutes more?
I put a dime in the traffic meter
and bought myself four minutes.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
When I’d heard that my friend, John “Peace Wizard” Bromet, had passed, I immediately thought of the Friday noon vigils in front of the Skagit County Courthouse. John had been a faithful force at these vigils for decades. His passing was going to leave a huge hole there. Almost as soon as the thought came to me, I knew how I could honor John: I would go to the courthouse at noon and hold my “TRUTH JUSTICE KINDNESS” sign, and every time a car honked I would give a “high kick” like John had done.
When Friday came, it was rainy and gray outside. I wasn’t sure anyone else would show up at the courthouse, but I knew I needed to do this for John – even if I was the only one.
Of course, I should have known better. A little rain wasn’t going to stop John’s peacenik companions from showing up with their signs, as they’d been doing for years.
And yes, many high kicks were made. 🙂
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
Check it out! One of my photos of the tulip fields is on the back page of Mother Earth News this month.
(Just had to share.) 🙂
Karen Molenaar Terrell
I just learned that my friend, and peacenik extraordinaire, John Bromet, passed on yesterday. He made the world a better place every day that he was in it.
The last time I saw John was on January 13th. I’d taken a drive up to Concrete and came upon John waiting for a bus to take him to the courthouse for the weekly Friday noon vigil. He had his sign with him, of course. I got my sign “TRUTH JUSTICE KINDNESS” out of my car and joined him at the bus stop. It was so good to see him again. We chatted and laughed and sang a song while he waited for the bus. I’m so glad I ran into him that day.
Below, John at the Women’s March in 2017; John and I the last time we were together (January 13, 2023); and John and I in front of the Mount Vernon courthouse (November 22, 2019).
I’m thinking it’s time for this one again… 🙂
(Reworked from a post originally published in 2014.)
I’ve never seen The Exorcist, but I have seen that scene with the pea soup and the spinning head – and lately I’ve seemed to encounter a lot of what I would put in the “pea soup and spinning head” category. There have been times, recently, when personalities have seemed to spin themselves out of alignment with the individuals they really are, spewing out all kinds of hell – anger, frustration, jealousy, fear, revenge, hatred, finger-pointing. And I’m embarrassed to say that on at least a couple occasions recently I myself was the spewer – feeling really angry and hurt about someone I felt had treated me unfairly.
It none of it felt good.
But then I came across yet another spewing-spinner on a discussion board, and found myself just stepping back and kind of observing in interested fascination as the pea soup flew and the vitriol sprayed. The pea soup and vitriol had been intended for me, but they were so over-the-top and spewed so high in the air that it simply erupted above the spewer’s head and ended up landing back on her. It didn’t touch me at all. And, standing there on the outside of the mess, it became really clear to me that the spinning-spewing personality was not at all the real individuality of my fellow poster. It was obvious that what I had just witnessed was nothing but a spinning-spewing counterfeit of the real man and woman, made in God’s likeness – made in the likeness of Love. And it also became clear to me that I had no desire or need to spend my time engaged in conversation with a counterfeit. I was able to step back and move on and find other interesting dialogues that better served me. I didn’t give the counterfeit the power to push me OUT of a space where I belonged, and nor did I give the counterfeit the power to pull me INTO a space where I didn’t belong. I didn’t have to react or respond to the counterfeit at all.
This encounter with the counterfeit poster helped me come to terms with my feelings of anger and wish for vengeance towards the personality who had treated me so poorly in the past. I had to recognize that the real man is the child of God – that God loves him no less than he loves me – and that God is instructing him, and leading him down his own path in life, with its own lessons waiting for him. And none of that is any of my business.
My business is keeping watch on my own thoughts and actions. Mary Baker Eddy writes, “Christian Science commands man to master the propensities, – to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit with honesty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you would not cherish an army of conspirators against health, happiness, and success.”
As Paul says, we all must work out our “own salvation.” It’s rewarding work. It’s satisfying work. And it’s also enough work to fill my moments and my days for eternity. Who has time to worry about working out someone ELSE’s flaws and foibles, when I have enough of my own to worry about?
This question was posed in a Facebook group: “What would you say are the main differences between Christian Science and other New Thought teachings?”
I love questions like this – questions that lead me to think in a deeper way about my way of life.
Here was my response:
Okay. Hold on. First, I’ve got to find out what “New Thought” means. 🙂
The Encyclopedia of Chicago says: “New Thought, a mental healing cult closely related to Christian Science, first emerged in the 1870s. Its leaders promised that thought could shape reality, and that if one meditated upon a goal, that goal—be it health, spiritual enlightenment, or wealth—would be reached.” (http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/886.html)
Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, does talk about the power of our thoughts on our experience (“Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupation of your thoughts…”) – but, I think – for me, anyway – the goal in Christian Science is a little different than the goal in “New Thought.”
Although Christian Science has sometimes been viewed as a “prosperity gospel” by people outside of it, that’s not what Christian Science is, for me. For me, Christian Science isn’t all about the “end product” – it’s not about if you meditate the right way you’ll get this this, or if you have enough faith you’ll get that – it’s more about how to live my life in every moment – not for what I’ll get at the end – but to recognize the reality of the universe and God – to recognize the good that is already here, everywhere, always – and to recognize my place in that. So it’s an active knowing and being and doing. It’s actively applying what I know and understand about Love and Truth (God) to bring me into my at-one-ment with Love and Truth.
I’m not using my mortal mind to change my situation – I’m endeavoring to draw close to the one Mind – to the thoughts of Mind Itself. Mary Baker Eddy defines “angels” as “God’s thoughts passing to man…” and I believe that’s where the healing, transforming power comes from – it comes from the thoughts of God, not from the thoughts of mortal minds.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
What a gift of a day! I drove into Mount Vernon to run some errands and to see how the downtown was preparing for the up-coming tulip festival.
I bought a mocha at the co-op and took it up to the river waterfront to soak up the sunshine while I sipped it.
A man holding hands with a toddler was enjoying the sunshine by the riverfront, too. We smiled at each other, and I smiled at the tot – remembering my own sons at that age. Pretty soon the man approached me and opened conversation. He introduced himself as Serge. He said he was from Ukraine, and that his wife and son had just joined him in America at the end of December. He said his wife and son, Daniel, didn’t speak English, yet – but I could tell as I watched Daniel watching me, that it wouldn’t be long before the little one was fluent. The tot was shy with me at first – and maybe a little scared – but he warmed up to me and, eventually, smiled back at me – and that was magic! Serge said that when Daniel saw planes flying overhead it scared him – because of his experience with the war – but that Daniel was getting more comfortable with planes now. Serge’s wife joined him then and smiled and waved. I welcomed her to America – and Serge translated my words for her. They left then, to wander some more in the sunshine. I was so glad I had a chance to connect with them today.
I walked back down to First Street – cupcakes from Shambala Bakery on my mind. As I shambled towards Shambala I saw a woman put a blanket over a man who was sleeping on the sidewalk. That really touched me. I asked her if the man was alright, and she said yes, but that she feels the need to care for people – and she felt he needed a blanket. I found myself tearing up at her kindness. I felt a kinship with this woman – who I learned was named Jody – and we gave each other a parting hug before I continued on my cupcake mission.
I opened the door to the bakery and hopped to the the case full of cupcakes. So many cupcakes! How to choose?! I decided I’d get the one with banana frosting for my husband, and get myself an orange cupcake. Then I asked the sales person what her favorite was – and she pointed to the chocolate ones with raspberry frosting – so I decided to get one of those instead of the cupcake with banana frosting.
I left with my cupcake loot, and hadn’t gotten very far when I came upon a young man standing on the sidewalk, surrounded by baggage. I asked him if he was hungry, and he said yes. I asked him if he’d like an orange cupcake – and he said that sounded great, thank you. So I gave him the orange cupcake – I’m so glad I had something to give him! – and then went back to the bakery to fetch myself another one.
When I got home from my trip to Mount Vernon, I wasn’t ready to go inside, yet. I pulled a weed. Then another. Then I grabbed the garden claw and settled in for some major buttercup pulling. It felt good to feel the soft earth around my hands. When I was done with that little patch of garden, I pulled out our electric lawn mower and mowed the front yard. The grass was all shiny and green. I breathed in the spring smells and felt the warmth of the sunshine on my face.
It has been a lovely day.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 