Went looking for birds this Christmas Eve morning and found more than I’d hoped to find!
Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell taken in Skagit County, Washington.
Christmas Eve Bird Extravaganza
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Love and a Sunrise
I went for a drive as the sun was rising this morning and pondered the concept of Love. I put in a CD of Alison Krauss’s music, listened to her sing the Beatle’s “I Will” – and let the music lift me up into that magical place where there’s no anger or fear, enemies or hate – where all of creation knows nothing but joy and good will. This poem and these pictures are what I brought back…
If I open myself up to Love
I avail myself of all the power of Love –
the warm, healing presence of Love.
Love isn’t some fragile thing.
It’s not destructible.
It’s not pretty in a Christmas tree
glass ornament way.
It’s enduring, dependable;
as solid as a mother’s lap;
as strong as a father’s rescuing arms;
as beautiful as the sound of Beethoven’s
“Joy”- indestructible, and perfect.
Love fills all space –
every corner, hole, and crevice –
the collective consciousness
of universal compassion and kindness
nurturing and reaching out to
the love in all of us.
And the love in all of us can’t help
but respond.
And that’s how we heal.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Click here for a link to a video I filmed of the sunrise.
Photos of the sunrise over Skagit County, Washington, this morning. Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.
Solstice Rain Patter-Tapping
Wrapped up cozy in a downpour
on this winter solstice day
Rain patter-tapping on my
bumbershoot as I slosh along the way
I feel Love reaching out –
ever-here, ever-there, everywhere –
embracing me in Her gentle calm.
What choice do I have but to share?
Home to dry clothes and a fire
in the wood stove. Soon a pie
in the oven – filling our home
with baked blueberry smells – my
contribution to the solstice feast
of peace.
.-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Intrusions in a Holy Space
There may come a time – a sacred and holy time –
when Malice and Jealousy will holler and yell
and make efforts to get our attention. We will be
living through a rare opportunity, full of challenge
and uplift – transition and transformation, birth
and rebirth – and as the angels of Love gather
around to support us – Envy may demand
to be the focus, center, and star of the story.
Ego may stamp its foot, and spread rumors
and lies, and play the victim. Thoughtless
and oblivious to the challenges we’re facing,
Envy may push you or me aside
to stand in the spotlight, or expect us
to entertain it and invite it for dinner.
And if this should happen – let’s keep thought
focused on what is true and holy and important –
honor what is worthy of our time and heart.
Don’t let’s be distracted by Hate or Greed
or Envy – these things are not deserving of our energy.
Love will lead us through the wilderness – will help
us address the lies that need to be addressed,
quickly, without fanfare and waste, and lead us
upward to meet angel-thoughts. Hope, Peace, Joy.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
I’m thinking I’m not the only one to experience the craziness that seems to foist itself on us just when we’re going through the most intense and powerful experiences of life. I’m guessing a lot of you have experienced this, too – people choosing to intrude on your time and space just when your whole being is focused on something life-changing and powerful . And – thinking back on the times when this has happened to me – it occurs to me that the craziness couldn’t have come at a better time for me, actually – when would I have been better fit to deal with it? The birth of my sons and the passing of my mother put everything else in clear perspective: This matters; That doesn’t.
If you’ve ever seen The Waitress (that wonderful movie about the abused and pregnant waitress who discovers her strength in the birth…
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Christmas Right in Front of Me
Tenaciously trying to tug tattered
traditions into my December –
there WILL be jangling jarring carols
on my CD player!
there WILL be cheesy Christmas movies!
And then it suddenly hits me –
my real life is so much better than these
ridiculous stories of make-believe!
I’m missing out on the Christmassy
magic going on right now, in this moment,
when I’m spending my energies
and focusing what I see
on what came before instead
of what’s right in front of me.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
The Christmas Tree’s Final Decoration
Like last year, this year I did not want to kill any trees. I just don’t have it in me anymore. So, like last year, Scott cut off an extra trunk growing on our redwood in the back field. Scott said we were actually saving the redwood by cutting off the extra trunk because if a wind came it would split that baby right down to the nubs. This tree has character. Or maybe… this tree IS a character… It fits right in with the family.
Hold on… I think I’ll go put some Groucho glasses on it…
Our How-We-Met Story
38 years ago today I met Scotty Terrell at a wedding. Scott was the wedding photographer and I was the singer.Here’s our how-we-met story:
…our heroine made a list of qualities that she wanted to find in someone: She wanted to meet a man of compassion and integrity; If this man was going to be a part of her life he’d also need a sense of humor, believe me; And he’d have to love the mountains, of course; and she’d really like him to have some kind of a creative, stimulating occupation; And, as a last whimsical thing, she decided that he’d come from either California, Colorado, or Connecticut. She’d gone out with short men, tall men, blond, dark, wiry, and sturdy – and they’d all been attractive to her. But an image of The One came to mind: He’d be about six feet tall, lanky, have brown hair, and glasses
……She spotted him as soon as she got there. The wedding was an informal affair held in a living room, and this man with a camera – the wedding photographer, she guessed – was weaving his way through the people who were seated and waiting for the wedding. Everywhere he stopped to chat, people would start chuckling. She surmised he must have a sense of humor. And he had a great smile – the full-faced, crinkly-eyed kind.She found herself instantly attracted to him.
The wedding began, the ceremony proceeded, she sang her song (a little nervously), and kept her eyes on the man with the camera.After the ceremony she, who had until now always been the pursued rather than the pursuer, walked up to him and introduced herself. He blinked behind his glasses, probably surprised at her directness, and grinned down at her. “Scott,” he said, shaking her hand.
At the reception, held in a local community hall, they talked and got to know each other better. She asked him if he liked the mountains. He said yes. She asked him if he’d ever climbed any. Yes, he said, Mt. Baker. She mentally put a check by the “loves mountains” on the list of qualities she was looking for in a man. Their conversation continued. She learned he was a newspaper photographer and checked off the requirement for “stimulating, creative job.” She saw how he opened the kitchen door to help an elderly woman with her hands full. “Compassionate” was checked off her list. He asked her if he could fetch her something to drink. She told him she’d really just like some water. He nodded his head. “Wadduh, it is,” he said. “Wadduh?” she asked. “Are you from the east coast?”“Connecticut,” he answered, grinning…
– excerpt from Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist by Karen Molenaar Terrell
A Christmas Story in Homonymese
Two my deer English teacher friends (and those who speak Homonymese) –
Eye thought it mite bee nice two give ewe sum thing too play with two-day. Sew eye give ewe a Christmas story:
Once upon a thyme inn a land far, far away, their lived a young girl named Surely. Surely was a suite child and was all weighs looking four opportunities too give two those around her.
Won mourning, as Surely walked down the rode into the town of Bethlehem, she past the in they’re and heard a we baby crying inn the manger. Surely all weighs carried her drum set with her (because who doesn’t, write?) and – bee-ing the suite child she was decided two play her drums for the knew baby boy.
She maid quite a racquet, let me tell ewe. Pretty soon people were paying her too stop. She gave the money too the baby’s parents, Merry and Joseph. Because she was thoughtful like that.
The End.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Christmas Doesn’t Depend on a Who, When, or Where
Here’s the beauty of it – the whole Christmas thing
You don’t have to go anywhere to find it waiting
You don’t have to be anyone special or rare
Christmas doesn’t depend on a who, when, or where
You can be at the North Pole, or on the equator –
at the bottom of the deepest sea, or in a volcano’s crater –
it might be mid-July or it might be December
but Christmas is right now if we only remember
to open our hearts wide to the love all around
to witness the beauty, and feel the good of love abound
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Two Weeks Afore Christmas 2020
T’was Two Weeks Afore Christmas 2020
T’was two weeks afore Christmas and all through Eff Bee
not a creature was stirring – not a they, he, or she
We were frozen in place – old traditions wiped out –
finding it hard to remember what it all was about
There’d be no parties this year; no off-line celebrations
(some of us contemplated months-long hibernations)
Some of us would be zooming, others face-timing
(those of us without working mics would be doing some miming)
There were still cookies to bake and gifts to send out
but this year we’d be masked-up as we moved about
Gone were the handshakes, the hugs, and side kisses –
replaced with tapping elbows as we went about our business
And as we forged on – made what we could of twenty-twenty –
we began to unfreeze and realize there was still plenty
of beauty all around us – joy and peace and kindness
We saw that gratitude brings us Christmas and Love it is that binds us
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 