Category Archives: religion

I Have to Believe

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I have to believe we really can get better, day by day.
I have to believe that we aren’t fated to accumulate
baggage and burdens, fear and loss, problems and weight,
ailments and affliction until the day we die.
I have to believe that each challenge that presents
itself to us can be an opportunity to learn a lesson
about the power and eternal ever-presence of Love.
I have to believe there’s no problem that can’t be healed,
no limitation, and no dismal destiny that can’t be unsealed
and overcome. I have to believe there’s a divine
reason and a purpose for everyone – him, her, and you.
And me. If I can believe I can make it true
for myself. And for my world.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

“Chronological data are no part of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood. Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness…Life and goodness are immortal. Let us then shape our views of existence into loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight. ”
– Mary Baker Eddy

Butterfly on Table Mountain

An alpine butterfly flits among the flowers on Table Mountain. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.

 

 

 

Leaving a Wake of Kindness

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My dear Humoristian hooligans –

I’ve been thinking about you, and feeling filled with gratitude, knowing you’re out there in the world, leaving a wake of kindness and love wherever you go. Wherever you are right now – whatever continent you’re on, or whatever ocean or sea – I know you will be working your magic today. You are transforming the universe. May your irrepressible joy bring hope to the hopeless. May the stodgy, stingy, and stuffy un-stodge and un-stuff themselves in the presence of your unstoppable silliness. May the bullies and bigots, bossybritches and busybodies, bellicose and benighted lose their fear and find their better selves in the power of your honesty and integrity. May you bring a good laugh to those desperately in need of a good laugh.
Amen.
Karen

Honoring Moz and Dad

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Dear friends,

I am going to continue to post things now and then that you may not agree with. This does not mean I don’t like you, or that I think you’re a bad person. It doesn’t mean I’M a bad person, either. It just means we disagree. It happens sometimes. But it’s not in my genetic make-up to stay silent or keep my thoughts to myself when I feel strongly about something. Moz and Dad were writing letters to newspapers since as far back as I can remember – and they set an example to me of how I should use my own First Amendment rights. I honor them by following in their footsteps.

You don’t have to read my stuff, of course – you can just skoot right by my posts and I won’t get hurt feelings or anything. But I’m going to continue to write them. For Moz. For Dad. For the causes that matter to me.

Karen

“The times they are a-changin…'”

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Did you all see the video clip of the high schoolers protesting at the White House today? Young people are not going to put up with crap. They aren’t going to put up with homophobia, racism, corporate greed, self-serving politicians or the NRA. Our young people give me hope for this world. They are articulate, educated, informed, and they know how to “spread the word” to each other.

The times they are a-changin’.

And it’s none too soon.

“Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.

“Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.”
– Bob Dylan

 

One Hundred Years from Now

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Did you know that in the 15th and 16th centuries people invaded countries, killed each other, and started wars over spices?! Yeah. That’s right. People killed each other over cinnamon and nutmeg. Today we might look back on those times and think, “What the heck?! Seriously?!”

And I’m thinking that 100 years from now when people look back on THESE times and learn that we invaded countries, killed each other, and started wars over oil, they’ll maybe say a 22nd century variation of “What the heck? Seriously?!” and they’ll ask in shock, “They killed each other over fossil fuels?!”

Or maybe they’ll be shocked that we hated each other for the color of our skin or our religion or our political party. Maybe when they learn that people of the 20th and early 21st century zipped alongside each other in earth-bound metal containers, traveling at speeds of 70+ mph, with only human-controlled steering wheels and brakes keeping us from colliding with each other, they’ll say, “Are you kidding me?! How did any of those people survive?!!”

When I try to picture the future, I like to picture a place of peace and equality. I like to picture a world that’s clean and fresh – powered by energy that doesn’t pollute and isn’t owned by corporations. Everyone has access to affordable health care and higher education. Everyone has food and shelter and clean water and safety. People work because they want to work, and they spend their time creating art, music, poetry, beauty – nurturing the good in themselves and each other. No one is owned by Big Business. People don’t feel the need to claw and kick each other for the scraps that politicians throw under the table. Everyone has access to education, and information. And people are kind – they wouldn’t even think of being otherwise.

I like to think we can get to that future. Maybe I won’t live to see it, but I can be part of the wave that takes us there.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

earth NASA

 

Danskos or Skechers? Gun Control Now

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“Wisdom is better than weapons of war…”
Ecclesiastes 9:18

This might help you understand where I am right now: This morning as I was getting dressed I debated whether I should wear my Danskos or my Skechers. I decided on the Skechers. If I need to be able to move fast, help my students get out of the building, and jump for the tree outside my office window, I think Skechers would work best, right?

Yeah. God is Love. Love will protect. And so forth. I believe that. But Love also provides us with the wisdom, and Mind provides us with the intelligence, to take the sensible steps we need to take in our human lives. Just as Jesus didn’t leap out of the tower when he was tempted to (“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”) – I believe we need to not throw ourselves out of 12-story windows to see if God will save us. And we need not make available to private citizens the type of guns that were designed to kill large numbers of people in a very short time. Common sense, people. Common sense.

Someone commented on one of my posts that more people get struck by lightning every year than have been killed in school shootings. About that: If you choose to stand on the top of a hill holding a metal rod during a lightning storm your odds of being struck by lightning increase a lot. And if we, as a society, choose to allow these types of guns in the hands of people who have no business owning them, we shouldn’t be surprised if a lot of innocent people die.

We need gun control now.

Click here to see a map of the mass shootings since Sandy Hook.

 

A Confession: Sometimes Anger Works for Me

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“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

I’ve now and then shared some of the thoughts that have brought me healing.  Usually these are thoughts of hope and joy, humor and cheery positivity. But sometimes there’s another mental place I go when I need healing – a place that I’ve been weirdly reluctant to share with others. But… maybe it’s time. Here it is: Sometimes I just get completely angry and exasperated with sickness and gloom. Sometimes my inner rabble gets roused and I get this powerful sense of indignation towards anything that would try to foist itself on me that I don’t want foisted on me. Sometimes I feel this powerful surge of revolt against anything that would try to take away my God-given right to wholeness and holiness. I laugh at the gloom, pull it from its fear-built pedestal, and knock it into smithereens. Yeah. Sometimes anger seems to work well for me. So there it is. My secret’s out at last. Thanks for letting me make my confession. I feel so much better now.

Alrighty. Carry on then…
– Karen

A New Ending for an Old Poem

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“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

“If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools…”
– Rudyard Kipling, If

Karen’s ending:
If you can think bigger than what’s best for you alone
And consider the needs and wants of others before your own
If you’re able to function without a computer or cellphone
And in the midst of crises keep an even-tempered tone
If you’re willing to give your life to serve a noble cause
And not expect to be appreciated, thanked, or be “The Boss”
Then you are the woman or the man I want for Pres.
You are the person who might lead us out of this mess.
– Karen

Unflappable Humanity and Pugnacious Joy

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My dear Humoristian hooligans, 

Go out there and spread your magic! May the stodgy, stingy, and stuffy be transformed by your irrepressible love of life. May bullying busybody bossy britches be bested by your unflappable humanity and pugnacious joy. May you make memories of moments that put a grin on your face and a bounce in your step. May you be part of the wonder of today.
Amen.

Karen

magic today

Never doubt the difference you’ve made…

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My dear Humoristian hooligans –

I hope you never doubt the difference you’ve made to this world. Every bit of shared laughter and love and wisdom – every moment of beauty you’ve added, and every time you’ve reached out to your fellow creatures in need – you’ve added to the momentum towards Good. Don’t be discouraged. Truth always wins in the end. Love has already won.

Today we celebrate all the good in Life! Keep shining your light, dear ones!  Onward and upward!
Karen
(Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

Otter Party (Karen Molenaar Terrell)
Marmot on Mount Rainier (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)
Mount Rainier
New friend at Mount Rainier
Butterfly in Bow, WA
Trumpeter Swans in Bow, WA (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)
Barn, Mount Baker, and Swans
John
Dancing in Boulevard Park
Happy Girl
Snow geese in Skagit County, WA. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell
Clara climbing the door…
Clara and her tail.
An alpine butterfly flits among the flowers on Table Mountain. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.
Sunset from Clayton Beach
Dad in front of his mural.
Shuksan Reflection
Dee Molenaar painting
Scott and the sons at Lincoln City, OR.
From our back deck.
Seagulls flying over Bellingham Bay.
Seagull Taking Flight (Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)
Drawing of Seagull by my dad, Dee Molenaar
The sons on their slide.
Mama Robin and babies on our porch. (Karen Molenaar Terrell)
From the Southworth-Fauntleroy Ferry.
Plane’s wing in sunset – photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell
Sons swinging over Lake Padden.
This bird settled on my hand while I was tromping around Mount Baker, and let me snap his picture…
Right after I got a new camera I spotted this eagle posing in a tree for me…
An owl at Lake Padden, WA, spent five or ten minutes in silent communion with me.
A butterfly in the Seattle Butterfly Exhibit poses on a leaf ….
A cormorant spreads his wings and eyes me while I take his photo.
The sons at Lincoln City.
Tartan
Chuckanut Boulders, WA
Oregon coast.
Moz and Einstein.

“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