And now a poem-
Imagine a world without labels
Imagine a world unboxed
Imagine a world where people
Don’t assume to know you
Before you’ve had a chance to talk
Karen Molenaar Terrell
Imagine a World Unboxed
Reply
One of the Best Days Ever
When Xander was in kindergarten I went to teaching half-time for the last part of the school year so that I could be off on the days Xander was off from kindergarten. One of the best days I’ve ever had was the day when Xander and I went to Washington Park on one of our days off and hiked down to Green Point together. We stayed there for a while, just relaxing, and then he turned to me and asked, “Isn’t this nice, Mommy?” I asked him what was nice, and he said, “Just sitting here in the sunshine with you.” And that. Right there. That sweet memory has stayed with me for twenty-five years.
I went back to Washington Park today and walked down to Green Point again. I ran into a little family – father, mother, baby, grandma – and enjoyed watching them spend time together, enjoying each other, and thought of the day I spent there in the sunshine with Xander.
I had the opportunity to talk to the family for a bit. I learned that the little one, Fiona, was just a few months younger than my granddaughter. She was sitting on her daddy’s shoulders – flapping her arms up and down like my granddaughter does when she’s on my shoulders or Scott’s. Then Fiona turned and pointed to me – just as my granddaughter does – and I pointed back. Fiona started grinning, enjoying our game.
I learned this was the first time Fiona’s grandmother had been able to see her and spend time with her, and she was leaving to go back to her home in Pakistan on Wednesday. My grandma’s heart went out to her. I know this feeling.
I thought at first that there were colorful shreds from popped party balloons strewn on the grass at Green Point. Then I realized the colorful shreds were actually rose petals. Rose petals seemed fitting for the day.
Grandbaby Time
she points at me
like a celebrity
on the red carpet
and grins her sweet grin
then toddles to me
and reaches her arms up for me
to lift her onto my hip
we go out to the deck
and sit in the sunshine
and I sing to her an old Beatles ballad:
“Who knows how long I’ve loved you…?”
and she bops her head to the beat
and then rests
her head on my chest
and I melt with the sweetness of it
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Response to a Republican Christian Science Friend
There are things that we agree on, and there are things we don’t. It’s not important, to me, that everyone agrees with me. I don’t take that personally, and I hope you won’t, either. I have found that it’s possible to disagree with people, and still like and enjoy them.
Although in the absolute of Christian Science all of God’s ideas are the perfect and beautiful expressions of Him, mortals are not God’s children – they are the counterfeits of His creation, and there’s no need to honor and follow them when they are dishonorable and aren’t leading us to be kind and honest and humane. The mortal counterfeit Donald Trump is not an honorable or kind man. He has proven himself with his words and actions to be self-seeking, dishonest, and racist. How anyone who witnessed what happened on January 6th in our capitol can support Donald Trump is beyond my understanding. When he talks about immigrants taking “black jobs” he shows himself to be a racist. He is a convicted felon – not because he was set up by the Justice Department as he claims – but because he paid off a porn star he had an affair with so that he could influence the 2016 presidential election. He put himself in that position, not the Justice Department. It was HIS actions and decisions that have made him liable for criminal charges and convictions. Understand, I do not hate Donald Trump – but I do not believe he is fit to be my president.
The information you share with me comes from a place of bias. There are links and videos I could share with you, too, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be interested in seeing them, and so I’ll save us both a lot of time and energy and not bring them to you.
I hope all goes well with you, my friend. I know God is leading you down your own path in the same way He is leading me, and I know He loves both you and me without condition or limitation. We are both precious to Him. I respect your individual journey, and I trust you will respect mine.
Love, Karen
Googling for Help
Googling Hamas, Israel, Gaza,
Harris, Trump, polls,
politics, war, peace, causes,
Ukraine, Russia, death tolls,
species endangered,
glaciers receding,
earth’s poles melting,
I’m adrift and seeking,
googling for inspiration,
googling for help,
googling for answers,
googling myself.
But none of what I’m looking for
is housed in this computer –
not peace, not hope, and not myself –
nor the guarantee of a future.
To find those things I’ll need to stop
and get off of my whirring laptop.
I breathe in deep, and close my eyes,
and feel Love pulsing around me.
Right here. Right now. As near as my thoughts –
the Good I seek is right here with me.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
A World Shaken
a world shaken
and six more lives taken
(“May we be blessed
by their memory.”)
the world seems
to be hemorrhaging
what gives it meaning
and beauty
for some misguided duty
to kill all who don’t have
the same beliefs
as the ones who hold the guns
when will war be done?
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
Ago-Old Questions
So here I am
at 5:20 in the morning
one cat asleep
the other pacing for breakfast
and the world is still dark
age-old questions weaving
through my thoughts:
why are we here?
why am I here?
Does the universe exist because
of a random series of physical events
that brought us to this place
where I sit in the dark and wonder why?
Some of my friends would say
that to ask “why” is to start
in the wrong place. Does there have
to be a why? They would ask.
Does it have to make sense?
Does there have to be a purpose
to this existence?
But it is built in me to ask why,
and so I ask.
And all the questions – the whys
and whats and whatifs,
the whos and wheres and
even the whens,
always lead me back to Love.
What? Love.
Why? To love.
Who? To love all.
When? To love all now.
Where? To love all now and here.
It is 5:34 now.
One cat sleeps,
the other paces for breakfast.
They are here to be loved.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
The Rain Is Back
The rain is back –
my familiar old friend –
and I settle into my comfy chair
with a mug of cocoa
and a cinnamon roll and watch
the raindrops hit the deck
making tiny splashes
and tickling my soul
with their happy pattering.
This is peace. This is joy.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Are We Okay?”
We disagree – my friend and I.
I ask, “Are we okay?”
“Of course! All this is temporary,” he says.
And I realize he’s talking about
something bigger than this life
on this planet
in these mortal bodies.
And my thought zooms out
beyond this planet,
this solar system,
this galaxy,
until our little Earth is no longer
even a tiny blue dot
in infinity.
And all there is
is Love.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Below: NASA photo.)
Praying for the Essence of Leadership
After the Biden-Trump debate I think many of us were feeling unsettled and discouraged about what we saw there. But in my conversations with others I’ve shared this underlying feeling I’ve had that Love was leading us, and providing for us, and taking care of us – and that something amazing was about to happen. And I think maybe it has!
Here’s a screenshot of a dialogue I had with others the day after the debate.
“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” – I Timothy 2:1-2
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 