Category Archives: poetry

Waiting for the Christmas Spirit

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The kitsch and spangles
and baubles and bangles,
And department store Santa,
just really can’ta
Seem to bring me
the spirit of Christmas.

And I’ve been waiting to feel it –
the real Christmas spirit
Hoping it’d come by now.
The stockings are stuffed,
the tree is all buffed,
The cookies are baked
and frosted and fluffed
But there’s still something missing –
a feeling, a tingling
that’s supposed to come every Christmas.

Except…
Maybe that Christmas feeling,
that energy and tingling
Is something I can have every day –
It doesn’t depend on spangles,
or jingly-bell jangles
Or jolly men dressed all in red.
It comes in the sharing
of laughter and caring
And the comfort in words with love said:
To all – Peace! Joy! Hope!
Every moment of every day.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell, from The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Christmas Book

Source: Waiting for the Christmas Spirit

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by Xander Terrell

If only fear could fuel a rocket,
we could reach the moon in time
to escape these shadows.
We could bring the sun down to earth
to brighten our days in time
to watch them burn.
They would do anything to love themselves,
except love each other.
You would do anything to love them,
except love yourself.
If only hatred could melt metal,
no more bombs, knives, or bullets.
If only ignorance could feed the hungry,
what an abundant world we would live in.
If only greed could make life everlasting,
then there would be no need to be greedy.
Success for us is being better off
than the people who harvest your food,
produce your pleasures, and support the
successful on their broken backs.
What if success was measured only
on the happiness of all mankind,
and not each individual man?
What if people cared more
about making a beautiful world,
than making their little worlds beautiful?
– Xander Terrell, from Dream Voyage
available at Amazon.com

xanders-book-cover-dream-voyage

 

Shameless Merchandising (because, you know, it’s Christmas and stuff)

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The Good You Seek

I want to take a break, I said.
Can I step out of life for a moment,
or maybe stay in bed?
Can things go on without me?
Can you just pretend I’m not here?
For life is a messy business
and I’m tired and I’m weary
I’ve made too many mistakes to count today
And I’d like to not make anymore, not any.

And the still small voice reached into my thought
– gentle, peaceable benediction –
“All the good you seek and all that you’ve sought
you can claim right now – and that’s no fiction –
for Love is yours to express, to feel, and to be
– you are wealthy beyond description.
Nothing else matters, there’s no other power
no warring opinions, no need to cower
You are loved and you’re loving
and that’s all there is to it
Love’s loving child, and there’s nothing else
but loving, simply nothing.”
– Karen Molenaar Terrell, from
A Poem Lives on My Windowsill <-purchase it here

Teardrop

A tear welled within my eye.
I held my breath and kept very still,
and for that few seconds,
the world was much clearer
through the lens of the tear.
– Xander Terrell, from
Dream Voyage <-purchase it here

Review for Finding the Rainbows: Lessons from Mom and Dad
“I read this book cover to cover with a smile on my face the whole time. The author’s engaging conversational style takes the reader along on her journey to resettle her parents from farm to assisted living and the love, gratitude, and simple joys of life she experiences during the transition. I highly recommend this book and it would make a great gift.”

Review for The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Christmas Book:
“Charming and endearing to read. You sit with a grin on your face while reading.”

Review for Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist:
“Karen has touched my soul with her heartwarming and hilarious rendition of the road less traveled. Everyone I know has had to listen to me go on and on about how great a read this is! Whether you want to laugh, cry, or just smile about life again, read this!!!”

Review for The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Middle Book:
“I think Karen has reached into my heart,and planted the seeds of love. This book gives inspiration and hope to all that read with open hearts and love.”

Review for The Madcap Christian Scientist: All Things New:
“How inspirational, fun, and enlightening! As with the author’s two other Madcap Christian Scientists’ books, I thoroughly enjoyed this one for its honesty, spirit of adventure and enlightenment. It uplifted me without being preachy. The author graciously gives us a peek inside her life and mind and reader beware!!! She dares go there and everywhere! A great, fun read that I will recommend to others as I have with her other two. My only complaint was I truly wished she had written more and that’s just me being greedy!!”

Karen’s author page.
Xander’s author page

book covers 2016

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The Earth Rises

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I Can Choose

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Dream Voyage

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Sample from Xander Terrell’s  Dream Voyage, now available on Amazon as both a print book and a Kindle book. (If you buy more than $25 worth of books on Amazon today, you get $10 off!)

Where Happiness Lives

Golden lights
and the deepest shadows.
Smiling faces illuminated by life.
A commodity where I come from.
An inherent condition here.
Where joy runs rampant,
like that one naked man who,
in the presence of a police officer,
streaked across the town in the wake
of the city-wide party,
the officer laughing in mutual enjoyment
before calling the man by his first name,
as a friend and a neighbor,
to get his shit together.
– Xander Terrell

dream-voyage

Art by Xander Terrell

 

 

 

“Trust.”

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“Peals that should startle the slumbering thought from its erroneous dreams are partially unheeded; but the last trump has not sounded, or this would not be so. Marvels, calamities, and sin will much more abound as truth urges upon mortals its resisted claims; but the awful daring of sin destroys sin, and foreshadows the triumph of truth.”
– Mary Baker Eddy

Taking the dog for a walk,
the shooting star got my
attention when it flew across
the heavens on the evening
of November eighth. I stopped
in my tracks, looking skyward,
alert now, and the voice said,
“Trust. Everything is happening
as it needs to happen.
Don’t be afraid. Trust.”

And crap. I knew then. I knew
who’d won the election – why
else would I need to be reassured?

I went inside. And saw my fears
confirmed. And felt weirdly
stilled inside. Holding on
to that message: “Trust.”

The voice didn’t say what was to come
would be easy, or without struggle
or challenge. It didn’t provide
details of how, where, when or why.
It just said, “Don’t be afraid. Trust.”

And the earth rises now.
Thirsty for Truth. Joining in Love.
Crying for justice.
In the streets. From the rooftops.
Through the wires of computers
across the world.

“Everything is happening 
as it needs to happen.
Trust,” said the voice of Love.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

 

trust

Standing with the Peacenik People

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Every Friday at noon, for 30 years or more, a dedicated little band of peace people have stood on the corner outside the local courthouse holding signs of peace and justice. Today I decided joining them would be a fine way to spend my “Black Friday.” So I scribbled a “LOVE RULES” sign and headed out for the courthouse.

I actually got there before the rest of the group and for a few minutes I stood there on the corner alone, holding my “LOVE RULES” sign – I felt very brave and pleased with myself. I started waving at people as they stopped at the light, and giving the thumbs up. “Love rules! Hate drools!” I yelled, grinning. People gave the thumbs up back to me, and laughed. One man in a truck, stopped at the light, shook his head no. I nodded my head yes. He grimly shook his head no. Laughing, I nodded my head yes. He shook his head no. I nodded yes – totally cracking up now. I mean… how can anyone disagree with Love? Aren’t people funny? 🙂

I was soon joined by the regulars: Jim Johnson – a former teaching colleague of mine – and his wife, Marilyn;  John “Peace Wizard” Bromet, a retired science and math professor; John, a former OB/GYN; Ginny, a woman I’d met when I’d been the guest speaker at the local Unitarian Universalist fellowship (her late husband had been mountaineering buddies with my dad); and Jerry Sommerseth, musician and human being extraordinaire – a man I hadn’t seen for years – and whom I was so excited to find again.

There was something really re-energizing about standing on that street corner with my peacenik friends. And there was something really inspiring and encouraging about the response we got from the people who drove by us. The vast majority of people responded positively to my “LOVE RULES” sign – gave me the  thumbs up, waved, gave the peace sign, honked. “Peace on!” I yelled to a couple of young guys in a rental moving van – and they both grinned at me and nodded their heads and gave me the peace sign. When the light changed, they gave one final honk to us as they moved through the intersection. White people, ethnic minorities, old, young, people in trucks, people in sports cars, people driving econo-cars and hybrids – it was like a little microcosm of the United States – and they were all honking for peace!

Isn’t that AWESOME?!

“At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you.”
– Mary Baker Eddy

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An Ode to Black Friday

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Ode to Black Friday

I do not like Black Friday, sir
I do not like the brrr, grrr, whirrr
I do not like to fight over socks,
I do not like to get crammed in a box
store, you will not see me at the Mall
I do not like it, no, not at all.
The crazy, scrambling, hunter’s race
doesn’t fit my ambling, gatherer’s pace
I like to feel, I like to sniff
I like to take my time and if
I take more time than Sally and Sam
it’s the way I shop, and it works for me, ma’am.
So you will not find me camped outside the store
You will not find me standing at dawn at the door
You will not find me wedged in the mall’s lot
or crammed in traffic, with wares newly-bought.
For I do not like Black Friday, friend.
Well, except online shopping maybe – they’ll send.
–  Karen Molenaar Terrell

And on that note… 🙂 perhaps you’d like to see some of the really awesome books (written by an extraordinary thinker… I mean… well… often there are moments of clarity… or… okay, it’s kind of hit and miss, but I’m pretty sure there’s something I’ve written that’s worth reading… maybe) you can buy online at Amazon.

Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist – the first in the Madcap Christian Scientist trilogy. I wrote this one to address some of the  “feargnorance” surrounding Christian Science, and to share my own experiences with this way of life. Blessings has 31 reviews and five stars on Amazon now! (It’s available in print book,  as a Kindle book, and as an audiobook, too.)

The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Middle Book is the second book in the trilogy. This one shares my experiences with severe depression during my Year of Insanity.

The Madcap Christian Scientist: All Things New is the final book in the Madcap Christian Scientist trilogy. In this book I share my adventures as I leave behind a career of 20 years and launch out into The Great Unknown. (Spoiler alert: It has a happy ending. 🙂 )

The poem you read above can be found in my book of poetry, A Poem Lives on My Windowsill.

Stories about the holiday season can be found in The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Christmas Book.

And my most recent book is Finding the Rainbows: Lessons from Dad and Mom – in this book I share the life lessons I learned from my parents during my dad’s 98th year.

So there you go!

Ahem. I feel I have now done my part to help you in your holiday purchases. Do what you feel you must do to get those Christmas gifts. And if you feel you must participate in Black Friday sales at your local strip mall, my heart (though not my body) goes with you.

– Karen

book covers 2016

 

 

The Sleeping Giant Awakens

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Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours.
– Mary Baker Eddy

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