Let’s rejoice when we can!
Let’s not worry how long
the good will last or when it will end –
afraid of rejoicing for fear
the good will be gone tomorrow.
Let’s rejoice for the good we have
right now, and let tomorrow
take care of itself.
This moment is good.
Amen.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”
-Matthew 6
Enveloped in the natural beauty of autumn
on Mount Rainier. Two days of peace,
immersed in the sounds and smells
of The Mountain – waterfalls and birds
and glaciers and hemlock and heather.
And then we’re leaving The Mountain –
driving through traffic and diesel fumes
on the freeway – past metal warehouses
and box stores and billboards
advertising cars and drugs and hamburgers.
And there’s Rainier – rising above the concrete
and car dealerships and rusty storage units,
and I feel sad that humanity seems so heedless
of her beauty – so unappreciative – almost
disrespectful in the ugliness it’s built in front of her.
Two hours from The Mountain, I look back
and get one last glimpse – she’s still there –
still with me – majestic in the distance –
untouched by the fuss and folderol,
the ego and greed of human-kind.
And as I think about this it occurs to me
that this is true of everything that’s real, isn’t it?
All the ugly and fuss that ego builds in front
of our identities can’t destroy our real selves –
can’t destroy what we really are:
The manifestations and expressions of Love.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Spiritual interpreted, rocks and mountains stand for solid and grand ideas.”
-Mary Baker Eddy
(Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
Colors of amber and ruby and gold
a candle alight on the wood stove
a blueberry-apple maple syrup pie
still toasty from the oven fills my
home with cozy smells of autumn
“Good Omens” on the television
soothing British accents in my ears
Gaiman’s irreverence for evil makes
me laugh at my fears. Cup of cocoa
sweetened with brown sugar is warm
in my hands while outside the rain
cools and refreshes the land.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Sam the Wonder Dog died last summer.
On her last drive to the vet’s her umber
eyes were still bright and alert
as she looked out one last time
on the scene passing by –
still engaged with this world.
And now I sit in the chair
that we had accepted was her chair
while she was with us.
For the first time I no longer smell
her fur in the fabric I nestle in.
For months we tried to get rid of Sam’s smell –
we vacuumed; we steam cleaned;
we scrubbed with soapy rags –
but the Sam-smell never seemed to leave us.
And now, it seems, it has.
And I think I might miss it.
I rub the fabric of the chair, and for a moment
I feel like I am petting Sam’s sleek coat,
and I feel her with me – warm and dear,
an expression of Love.
Her body is gone, and her smell.
But Sam’s still with us in her love.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Who could have guessed a year
ago that today I would have near
two new daughters, loved and dear
to me.
Life is like that, isn’t it?
In the midst of chaos there
is still joy to find and share
and in the midst of pandemic terror
the sons still found life-partners who dare
to approach life as they do – kind and ready,
brave and steady.
There were no caterers or wedding planners,
no venues, no bands, no banners,
no paid photographers, florists, or DJs,
and no invitations to each pair’s special day.
Their weddings were simple and true –
one in Hawaii and one under a blue
sky on top of the courthouse in Seattle.
We couldn’t make it to one, but we all
made it to the other.
Father, sons, new daughters, and mother.
Who could have guessed a year ago that by September’s
end I would have two new daughters?
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it.”
-Mary Baker Eddy
.
hummingbird flitters
among our back deck’s flowers
enjoying my gift
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
I am not a body.
I am of THE body
of I AM.
And so I AM
kind, competent, confident,
fearless, strong, intelligent,
brave, beautiful,
bursting with joy,
full of energy,
healthy, whole, and hardy,
no less than I AM
filling all space,
holding all power.
I am of I AM.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
I yam what I yam.
– Popeye
So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them…and God saw every thing that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
-Genesis 1: 27.31
And God said to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM.”
Exodus 3:14
For we, being many, are one bread and one body…
– I Corinthians 10.17
For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body…
– I Corinthians 12:13
There is one body and one Spirit…
Ephesians 4:4
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful.
Colossians 3:15
The term Mind and body literally means God and man, for man is the expression of Mind and the manifestation of Mind is the embodiment of Mind. Therefore, man is God’s body and there is but one God. Body is therefore the aggregation of spiritual ideas, forever controlled and governed by the law of Life, harmonious and eternal.
– attributed to Mary Baker G. Eddy ( https://articles.plainfieldcs.com/mary-baker-eddy/body-unabridged/ )
In that quiet space
that holy place
looking inward to look
outward to look inward
gathering energy
for the next calling
enjoying this in-between time
as important as the beginning
as important as the end
important in its stillness
importance in its peace
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Quiet fallow field
resting unobserved in peace
preparing to grow
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
I am not a body.
You are not a body.
We are part of something
bigger than a body.
We are enveloped in infinity,
embodied in the Body of Love.
The human body is a tool
for my human experience.
It’s no less than perfect
because there’s no reason
for it to be anything less
than what I need it to be
here, for me, as I move
through the veil.
“Take possession of your body,
and govern its feeling and action.” *
I am in control of the body-tool
– the tool does not control me
or determine my existence here.
I wield it. It doesn’t wield me.
I am not a body.
You are not a body.
We are part of something
bigger.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
*”Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.”
– Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 