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Photo Jewelry and a Box Full of Things That Make Me Smile

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photo jewelry

by Karen Molenaar Terrell

 

I was toodling around with my photos – trying to put together a box full of stuff that makes me smile – and I thought to myself, “Self,” I thought, “wouldn’t it be cool if I could make jewelry out of pictures of sky, sea, and flora to share with my friends?” And so I did.

I also made that “box full of stuff that makes me smile” – I put in the box URLs to some of my favorite youtube clips, pictures of baby animals, and bits of Nature. It is a Christmas gift for you. Okay, so, like, it’s maybe not the key to a sparkly new car or actual jewelry you can really wear on your fingers and dangle from your neck, but it comes from the heart. And that’s got to count for something, right? 🙂

Merry Christmas!

Here are the URLs you’ll find in the box:



box full of magic

Free Book!!! (Free is good, right?)

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Xander Terrell, who descends from a noble and spectacular lineage (ahem, he’s my son) is offering his book, Artful Living, for free on Kindle for the next five days. If you don’t own a Kindle… what’s WRONG with you?… No, just kidding, I’m sure you’re a fine and upstanding  citizen of the world… but if you don’t own a Kindle you can bring Kindle to your computer or mobile by downloading the Kindle Reading App.

Link to his book: Artful Living

Link to Kindle Reading App: Kindle Reading App

And if you want to follow Xander on his blog (and who wouldn’t, right?!) go to xanderterrell.wordpress.com and join his legion of followers.

And now a poem from Artful Living:

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

If you enjoy Artful Living, please write a review and let your friends know about the book. The management thanks you. 🙂

 

Religious Leaders Join Forces to Eliminate Slavery

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   Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to foresee the doom of all oppression. Slavery is not the legitimate state of man. God made man free. Paul said, “I was free born.” All men should be free. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
– Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

This is very cool –

“For the first time in history, major Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox Christian authorities, along with leaders of the Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim religions, met to sign a shared commitment against modern slavery, which is considered a crime against humanity.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/02/pope-francis-and-other-re_n_6256640.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000051

So… did you expect to wake up and see this story sauntering through social media this week? Because I have to admit that I did not. It appeared without any fanfare or drumroll – there was no media build-up and there were no hints that this was in the works. But, holy shamoley, this is HUGE, isn’t it? If you go to the URL above, you’ll see in front of you a picture that shows these people all standing side-by-side, united in their efforts to get rid of slavery:
– Pope Francis
– Her Holiness Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma)
– Venerable Bhikkhuni Thich Nu Chan Khong (representing Zen Master ThĂ­ch Nhất Hạnh)
– The Most Ven. Datuk K Sri Dhammaratana, Chief High Priest of Malaysia
– Rabbi Dr. Abraham Skorka
– Rabbi Dr. David Rosen
– Dr. Abbas Abdalla Abbas Soliman, Undersecretary of State of Al Azhar Alsharif (representing Mohamed Ahmed El-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar)
– Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi
– Sheikh Naziyah Razzaq Jaafar, Special advisor of Grand Ayatollah (representing Grand -Ayatollah Sheikh Basheer Hussain al Najafi
– Sheikh Omar Abboud
– Most Revd and Right Hon Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
– His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France (representing His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew).

It’s like a Who’s Who of the World’s Religious Leaders.

And wouldn’t it be great if this was just the beginning of a movement towards world peace? Wouldn’t it be great if all the world’s religious – and non-religious, for that matter – leaders and their flocks joined together to end slavery, poverty, homelessness, hunger, environmental disasters – and the greatest of all injustices – war? I never expected to see this story on Facebook this week, but now that I have – now that I’ve seen what’s possible between our world’s religious leaders – I’m thinking why stop there?

Truth brings the elements of liberty. On its banner  is the Soul-inspired motto, “Slavery is abolished.” The power of God brings deliverance to the captive. No power can withstand divine Love.”
– Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

 

A Cool Thing Happened Today

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A really cool thing happened today. When I woke up this morning I woke up with a mission pinging around inside my noggin – and it was a really fine mission, too.  It came to me that I was supposed to get a Starbucks gift card for a teaching friend who had just passed the National Boards, and another for a teaching friend who was in the process of moving. The “how” I was going to get these cards to them, and the  “when” I was going to find time to get to a Starbucks I was not sure about, but…. details, details, right? I knew it would all work out somehow.

I hadn’t planned it, but I found I was running 15 minutes early this morning, so when I hit the freeway it occurred to me that I’d have time to stop by a Starbucks before work. I remembered, then, a Starbucks that sat off the freeway on a parallel road. Hah! I decided to give myself a little adventure before work – I’d stop off at the Starbucks, buy the gift cards, and buy myself one of those Starbucks holiday drinks, and then I’d take the parallel road for a while instead of getting back on the freeway and taking my usual route to work. I’d shake things up a little. 🙂 I’d worry about how I’d get the cards to my friends (who work at different schools) later.

And then the really cool thing happened: When I got to the Starbucks I saw another teaching friend coming out of it – someone I really enjoy and hadn’t seen for a long time – and as she smiled and raised her hand to wave at me, it occurred to me that she worked at the same school as the teacher who’s in the process of moving! I could give the card to her to give to my other friend!

Michele and I hugged and when I told her about my plan, she was ready and eager to help me get the card to our other friend. She came back into the Starbucks with me and we had a few minutes to chat and laugh and hug again and get caught up a little before we both headed off to our respective schools.

And THAT had all gone so well that I felt inspired to continue my morning adventure and make an effort to get the second Starbucks gift card to its proper place. The friend who had passed the National Boards teaches at a school along the road that runs parallel to the freeway – I could, I decided, simply take that road as far as her school and drop it off on my way to my own school. Which is exactly what I did. And when I stopped at that school I ran into ANOTHER friend – a young woman who had once worked side-by-side with me during a year that had challenged both of us as teachers. Teresa has one of those smiles that can light up a room and as soon as I saw her I felt the positive energy just radiating from her. We hugged and laughed and reminded each other how much we had appreciated each other’s support during our challenging year. Then, because I realized I was now running late, I gave her another quick hug and continued on to school.

Which brings me to the final really cool thing: I wasn’t late! I arrived at school just as my first student arrived – perfect!

And the rest of the day was good, too. 🙂

The Great Rose Bush Rescue

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Last spring on my walk through the neighborhood I noticed a rose bush growing up amongst the weeds and tall grass at the side of the road. It was kind of scraggly-looking, but it had cultured-looking leaves and a plucky little crimson rose dangling from one of the branches. It looked to me like the rose bush must have been forgotten and abandoned when the owners of the nearby house had moved out the year before. I was tempted, then, to dig it up and bring it home with me, but the house was up for sale now, and I figured it wasn’t my place to remove the rose bush. I really hoped, though, that whoever moved in would find the rose bush and recognize its value and nurture it back to health.

Months went by, the house remained uninhabited, and one day I noticed everything on the side of the road had been shaved off – including the rose bush. I could no longer find even a stubble of it. And then signs of a construction project began to appear there – heavy equipment and gravel and vegetation rolled flat. I kept an eye out for the rose bush – but could find no trace of it. I’d just about given up hope of ever seeing it again when, a few days after the heavy equipment arrived, I finally saw a twig with a rose leaf hanging from it sprouting out of the mashed-up blackberry vines and grass. I quickly scooted home, returned to the rose bush with a bucket and shovel, and dug her up.

By this time it was September. September is not the best time to dig up a rose bush, but I knew if I waited even another day that little rose bush would be toast. (I was right about that, too – the next day big concrete slabs were sitting in the place where the rose bush had been.) So I brought the rose bush home with me and prayed to know it as the idea of Love – held forever safe in the consciousness of Love.

And look at her now! 🙂

??????????

rescued rose

 

Preface to Memoirs of a Dinosaur Mountaineer

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Preface to Dee Molenaar’s book, Memoirs of a Dinosaur Mountaineer

A light breeze came up the canyon and through the pine boughs overhead, and soon isolated white specks began descending. The snowflakes increased and soon we were encompassed in a flurry that blotted out the semi-arid valley far below, and the trail penetrating the pines below the granite walls high above. In our present light apparel and on a short, leg-stretching hike after motoring from Death Valley 80 miles in the east, our “Old Cronies Expedition” took another prolonged look around, and turned back to the trailhead at Whitney Portal.

It was then that my brother K and I and our friends, George Senner and Bob Johnson, found we were not alone among these rugged mountains.

Coming down through the mists was a lone hiker.

The heavily-bearded, long-haired chap was traveling beneath a bulky backpack that suggested he’d been out for some time. However, the big coil of fiberglass rope tucked beneath a hatchet, a large cast-iron skillet, and soft-toed boots indicated this was no modern-day mountaineer with a fetish for the latest in lightweight travel.

He stopped briefly and we questioned him about his travels. He was originally from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and more recently from the Stockton area across the mountains. Tiring of the Bay Area drug scene, he was aiming for a change of pace and was now returning from a trip into the mountains. He talked confidently of his climbing experiences and we enjoyed his free-spirited philosophy before we parted. At a distance through the mist we followed his burdened figure down the trail.

Meeting this hairy 40-ish fellow on the Mount Whitney trail rekindled my thoughts of a half-century earlier – in 1937, a late-summer trip into the Sierras Nevada with my brother K, similarly clad in jeans and carrying unwieldy loads. In that day we also had the trail and the mountain pretty much to ourselves. But in today’s world, had we passed here a couple months later, during the summer’s climbing season, we would have been part of the mountain’s allowable 75 hikers registered daily for the 20-mile roundtrip to the top of Mount Whitney.

How times have changed since those youthful days of the 1930s, during the Great Depression and prior to World War II.

Yet my life since has been a succession of fortuitous circumstances – in many cases being in the right place at the right time and meeting the right person. And though the breaks never made me rich, they provided a bounty of fond memories of fascinating places and events, people and good friends.

– Dee Molenaar

Intro to Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist

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(Introduction to Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist)

Years ago an old boyfriend said to me, “I can’t see that Christian Science has made you any better than anyone else.”

“I know!” I said, nodding my head in complete and happy agreement, “But can you imagine what I’d be like without it?!”

He raised his eyebrows and laughed. What could he say? He was looking at a self-centered, moralistic, stubborn idealist who saw everything in terms of black and white. But I could have been worse. I believe without Christian Science I would have been worse.

Let’s get one thing clear from the start: I am not the best example of a Christian Scientist. I’m not as disciplined as I could be. I have fears and worries and doubts. I’m a little neurotic. I am the Lucy Ricardo of Christian Scientists.

I should probably put in a disclaimer here, too—the views expressed in these pages are not necessarily the views shared by other Christian Scientists. Christian Scientists are really a pretty diverse group of people—there are Democrat Christian Scientists and Republican Christian Scientists, “Green,” and “Red,” and “Blue” Christian Scientists, and Christian Scientists with no political affiliations at all. Frankly, I like that about us. We keep each other on our toes.

I should also tell you that this book is not an authorized piece of Christian Science literature. If you want to actually study Christian Science you should probably read the textbook for this way of life, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.

My purpose for writing this epistle is really two-fold (I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “two-fold” in my life, and using it now is making me feel sort of professorial. I like the feeling.):

First-foldly, to introduce you to one Christian Scientist so that if you ever hear someone talking fearfully and ignorantly (feargnorantly?) about Christian Scientists you’ll be in a position to say, “I have a friend who’s a Christian Scientist, and, although it’s true she’s a bit of a nut, she’s also…” and you can go on and talk about how your friend has used her study of Christian Science to try to make the world a happier place.

Second-foldly, I feel the need to acknowledge God’s blessings in my life. I don’t want to be like those nine lepers in the Bible who couldn’t take the time to thank Jesus for healing them. I want to be like that one leper who “fell down on his face at his feet” before Jesus and gave him thanks (Luke 17). Through my study of Christian Science I’ve witnessed some incredible proofs of our Father-Mother God’s love for Her creation in my life. God has filled my life with infinite blessings and it’s time for me to acknowledge these blessings to others.

– Karen Molenaar Terrell

 

To Those Who Serve –

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Originally posted in 2013 –

On this Veteran’s Day I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to all the men and woman who are faithfully and bravely serving around the world in the armed services, the Peace Corps, the Red Cross, and the Foreign Service. I want you to know that we remember you and appreciate you. You have made a difference. Every word spoken with love, every thought of kindness and compassion, and every gesture of good will, brings mankind that much closer to “peace on earth.” Your work is not in vain, and you are not standing alone.

In the chapter titled Peace and War in Prose Works, Mary Baker Eddy writes: “The characters and lives of men determine the peace, prosperity, and life of nations.”  A little later she writes: “Right thoughts and deeds are the sovereign remedies for all earth’s woe. ” As we celebrate this Veteran’s Day I have confidence  that all those who serve around the world – in whatever capacity – have the strength, courage, and compassion to help bring the world closer to a place of  “peace and prosperity.”  And my gratitude is without measure.

There will be a time without war. There will be a time of peace. There will be a time when mankind will live together in unity and prosperity and with “good will to all.”  I look forward to that time, and I’m grateful to all those who are helping us get there.

***

“Bloodshed, war, and oppression belong to the darker ages, and shall be relegated to oblivion.”
– Mary Baker Eddy (Miscellaneous Writings)

“…whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant…” – Matthew 20: 25-27

world peace duh right

photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell

On Politics, Voting, and Separation of Church and State

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I appreciate that in the Christian Science movement there’s no official authority telling its members how to vote on issues, or which politicians they should try to elect. Members are expected to vote as individual conscience and understanding dictate. And this, I believe, is as it should be.

Karen Molenaar Terrell's avatarAdventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist

“Do the unexpected. Take 20 minutes of your day to do what young people all over the world are dying to do: vote.” – Rick Mercer (Canadian Wit Extraordinaire)

“Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has always believed that those who are entitled to vote should do so, and she has also believed that in such matters no one should seek to dictate the actions of others.” – from Prose Works by Mary Baker Eddy

I appreciate that in the Christian Science movement there’s no official authority telling its members how to vote on issues, or which politicians they should try to elect.  Members are expected to vote as individual conscience and understanding dictate.  And this, I believe, is as it should be.

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science church, was a strong believer in separation of church and state.  She writes, in Prose Writings: “Progress, legitimate to…

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