I had such high hopes for our world. I thought that once we’d made it through the pandemic together we’d all come out of it kinder, wiser, more noble. I thought we’d look at one another with new eyes – recognize the miracle of just being alive together on this beautiful, fragile planet.
I want to know if the mother in labor, killed
in the Ukraine, is holding her new baby close
wherever she is now,
and rejoicing in Life never-ending.
This is what I hope for her.
I want to know if the young Russian conscript –
who texted his mother just before he was killed
in a war he wasn’t expecting –
is hugged safe in the arms of Mother-Love.
This is what I hope for him.
I want to know if the man who started this war
will wake up someday on the other side of this life
and meet the mother and her baby and the conscript
face-to-face and see what he has done and feel
the pain of loss they felt in their last moments on earth,
and feel shame.
This is what I hope for him.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Click here for audio.)
Feel God as infinite Love, infinite Truth – all-power, all-presence, filling all space; protecting, guiding, guarding. There’s nowhere and no one living outside of Love’s embrace. No one is ever separated from Love’s power and presence and protection. No one is ever outside of Love’s realm.
Know yourself as God’s child. You are God’s reflection, expression, manifestation, image and likeness. All you can be is what Love made you to be. All you can know is Love’s presence and power. You are strong and brave and whole and beautiful and healthy and confident. You are what God made you to be.
Love is all-in-all.
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
– Isaiah 41: 10
“For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
-Luke 1:37
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. – Luke 2: 14
Christmas Eve, 1914. World War I. The trenches in Belgium.
The Germans begin setting up Christmas trees with lighted candles along the trenches on their side of the line. They begin singing carols, and although they’re singing in German, the allies on the other side of the line– the French, Belgians, and British – are able to recognize most of the carols. Soon voices are raised from both sides of the dividing line, joining together to sing “Silent Night.” A truce is called. Weapons are laid down and replaced with soccer balls. Gifts are exchanged – chocolate and postcards and tobacco and newspapers.
I love that story. I love the hope of peace it represents. Although the soldiers were not able to maintain their truce – within the week they were forced, under orders, to pick up their weapons and begin shooting at each other again – the end of the Christmas truce in 1914 doesn’t diminish the power of what those soldiers were able to bring to each other for that week.
May our world find that peace again, and next time may it be lasting.
“… and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
– Isaiah 2: 4
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”
– Isaiah 11: 6
One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, – whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.
– Mary Baker Eddy
I am vaccinated. Half of my extended family is vaccinated; and half is not. I don’t love and respect the unvaccinated members of my family any less than I love and respect those who are vaccinated. I don’t think the unvaccinated people in my family are selfish – in fact, given today’s divisive and shaming culture, I think they are very brave for choosing to take an unpopular path. Of those who are vaccinated in my extended family, some identify as Democrats and some as Republicans. Of those who are unvaccinated, some of them identify as Democrats and some as Republicans. The choice to get vaccinated, or not, had nothing to do with political leanings – at least in my family.
I wish Aaron Rodgers hadn’t lied about his vaccination status – but, like the rest of us, he’s human and no human is perfect. To paraphrase Jesus, “Let whoever is perfect among us, cast the first stone.” I’m not going to join in shaming Rodgers because he chose not to get vaccinated. I hope he has a speedy recovery from COVID-19, and I hope he comes back to play football in time to be crushed by the Seattle Seahawks.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Sometimes I get the feeling
that all these things we think
are of such import –
all the worries and fears
and petty prejudices we fill
our days with – are just
distractions from something
so big it’s beyond our ability
to grasp.
Just a thought. Alrighty. Carry on then.
-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/ )
So let me get this straight: People in Texas are going to get a $10,000 reward for following around women of reproductive age and turning them in if they get an abortion? And… will people also get a $10,000 reward for turning in people who aren’t wearing masks and getting vaccinated? I just want to make sure I’ve got it right. When is it “My body; my choice”? And when is it “Your body; my choice”? It’s getting a little confusing for some of us out here.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Well, dang. I just found myself
getting caught up in the endless loop
again – that spinning hamster’s hoop
again – that weird compulsion we
humans have to prove we’re right –
to send our little egos out to fight
in a battle that no one will win.
Hurling opinions and catpulting “facts”
believing that where our data lands
will bring us fresh new fans
And getting frustrated when it doesn’t
work out quite the way we planned.
Because that’s not how Love works!
Love works in kindness –
in the ties of caring that bind us.
Love brings us together for each other
– to help and hold and heal
and to embrace what’s lasting and real.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
We are of one Body
We are of one Soul
When you love another
you love yourself
and when you hate another
you hate yourself
We are all cells of the same Body.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 