Prayer is listening.
Love says, “You’re not a body;
you are embodied.”
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Photo of sunrise over Skagit County, Washington, by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
Prayer is Listening
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Category Archives: poetry
Haiku Prayers
A friend posted this idea in a Facebook group: “Today, write a prayer in the form of a haiku. A haiku is a Japanese poem that has three lines, each with a set number of syllables: 5-7-5. No need to rhyme, but notice how the structure helps focus your attention and conversation with God.” (A quick “google” tells me that this idea comes from a book called Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for an Imperfect Life by Kate Bowler and Jessica Ritchie.)
And what a great idea!
Here’s what I came up with…
Universe waking
We are part of Love’s body
embracing all Life
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Feel the presence
of infinite Love filling
all space and time, yours
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
the world wakes to Love
all-encompassing power
hugging us with joy
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
What have you got? 😀
The First Word
Here’s the link to the podcast.
Me, thinking.
Who spoke the first word
and who first heard?
Was it a word of warning?
Or a word of love?
Was it a grunt of fear,
or a coo like a dove?
Was the word-creator
the one who noised first
or the noise-imitator?
And how quickly
did that first word spread?
Did it crawl or leap
from head to head?
Over a million years passed
from the first word to Wordle
where you succed by jumping
over five-letter hurtles.
Me, thinking.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Eagles Dancing
Eagles spinning and dancing
like eighth notes joined together
with wings across the sky
moving to the music
in my car
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Photo of bald eagles near Bow, Washington. By Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
Be Done
Here’s the link to the podcast.
It is just what it is –
no worse than that –
it doesn’t portend –
it’s not the start or end –
it’s a stand alone
piece of life –
don’t make it a door
to something more –
deal with it now and here
and move on
without packing it along
with you
Be done.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Do You Have the Mind of God?
Years ago, when I was having class instruction in Christian Science, our teacher asked one of my classmates if her Mind was God. I remember she hesitated to answer at first – maybe the idea of saying that her Mind was God seemed sort of pompous? And then she answered, “Yes?” Our teacher smiled and nodded in confirmation, and it came to my classmates and I that, of course, God is our Mind – God is the ONLY Mind, after all. Reasoning from that standpoint, it followed that God is also our Life – which meant our Life was unending; God is also our Love – which meant we were never outside of Love’s reach; God is also our Truth – which meant Truth isn’t something we have to acquire – we know, right now, everything Truth knows.
It was a revelation.
Lately, I’ve found myself contemplating more the Mind that is God. There are a couple of things that have brought me to this contemplation in recent years – my centenarian father was diagnosed with vascular dementia in the last years of his life; I have several friends who have loved ones who have been diagnosed with dementia; and one of my favorite celebrities has recently been diagnosed with dementia. And so I’ve found myself turning to the contemplation of our never-ending Mind.
Feel the presence of infinite Love,
enfolding, protecting, all-powerful.
Feel the presence of Life,
filling all space, without end, all-present.
Feel the presence of infinite Mind,
guiding and governing, all-knowing.
God is the one Mind – eternal, infinite, never-ending, filling all space, always and forever. God is infinite intelligence – infinite Love, Truth, Life, Soul, Spirit, Principle, Mind. Mind is Love.
We are the expressions and manifestations of infinite Mind. We express intelligence, immortal memory, kindness, honesty, clarity. We are eternal because Mind is eternal. We are tied directly to our Father-Mother God – never separated from Mind. There is no spot where Mind is not. There is no time when Mind is not. There is no time or place, in or out, within or without, when Mind ceases or intelligence disappears. We ARE because God is.
The belief that we can ever be separated from Mind or lose our Mind or be without a Mind is a lie, for God is our Mind, always and forever. The belief that God’s children can ever suffer from dementia or insanity is a lie, for all we can be is what God made us to be, what God is Herself. Nothing has the power to usurp Mind’s government of Her own creation – for Mind is the only power and presence.
The truth is, we can’t ever lose our Mind – where would It go?
God, Mind, is all-in-all, eternally.
Amen.
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, having the nature of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”
-Philippians 2:5-6
Cosmic Hug
Trust.
Feel the arms of Love
enfolding us
all in one universal
cosmic hug.
Feel the pull,
the tug
towards Truth, Life, Soul,
Love
gathering us together,
breaking the fetters,
cutting the tethers
that keep us bound
in hate and fear.
We’re free in Love
right now, right here.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
“No Faculty of Mind Is Lost.”
Hid safe in the one Mind
where identity is protected;
individuality can’t be lost;
and who we are isn’t dependent
upon “brain, blood, blones,
and other material elements.”
Untouched by age.
Unmarred by disease.
Perfect, whole, complete,
unbreakable beauty,
immortal memory.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
“If delusion says, ‘I have lost my memory,’ contradict it. No faculty of Mind is lost. In Science, all being is eternal, spiritual, perfect, harmonious in every action. Let the perfect model be present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized opposite. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light, and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your consciousness.”
-Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 407
“Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so unlike Spirit.”
-Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 475
Better Than Okay
better than okay
pain-free and at peace; resting
in Love. All is well
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, – neither in nor of matter, – and the body will then utter no complaints.”
-Mary Baker Eddy (Science and Health, p. 14)
Nothing Can Stop the Joy
inside the twirling house
in Wizard of Oz
tilting and spinning around in circles
without a pause
scared and alone in the dark
the walls and floorboards
creaking and popping
and then suddenly
I’m bopping and hopping
to Alison Krauss’s rendition
of “I Will” in an irredescent bubble
of joy and peace
floating above the troubled rubble
until it gets smaller and smaller
and disappears into the nothing it is
and I see all there is,
or ever has been, is Love,
and nothing can stop the joy
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 