T’was the day they call Valentine’s
and o’er all the land
folks were giving out cards
from hand-to-hand.
There were cards with lace
and cards with big hearts
cards with words that rhyme
and cards with moveable parts.
There were funny cards
and romantic cards,
friendship cards and more.
But what they all had in common
was the love at their core.
I love you!
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Random heart photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
I’ve deleted my Spotify account and no longer have any podcasts through the Madcap Christian Scientist blog. I do have some other podcasts out there, though.
Here’s one through the local Unitarian Universalist fellowship: https://suuf.podbean.com/e/the-healing-power-of-love/
Here’s one through Repod-It!:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/featured-author-karen-molenaar-terrell-children-of/id1540661725?i=1000557722651
And here’s the audible version of my first Madcap Christian Scientist book, Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist:
https://www.amazon.com/Blessings-Adventures-Madcap-Christian-Scientist/dp/B00DP8CWQO
Karen Molenaar Terrell
The last couple of days – in an effort to keep life in perspective – I’ve been making an effort to acknowledge all the 99.9% of life that’s good and beautiful and going on around me all the time – every creature that’s expressing life; every breath I take; every smile exchanged; every pretty little rock I find; the perfume of every flower I sniff in the Valentine’s display at the supermarket; every raindrop sparkling in the sunshine; every purr from my cat; every shared laugh on the boardwalk; every swan and eagle winging above me; every kindness shown me by friends and strangers – and I’m here to tell you that we live in a wondrous and bountifully beautiful world.
Karen Molenaar Terrell
Photos above by Karen Molenaar Terrell.
my memories of love aren’t confined
within my brain
aren’t held within the walls of cerebellum,
cerebrum, and brainstem,
tissue and goo,
my memories of love are part of eternity –
hid safe in the collective consciousness
of Soul
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
We created this home together –
my love and I –
and filled it with warmth and joy
and now I sit in our “green room”
and gather my memories
around me like a soft blanket
this is where Dad sat
on his 98th birthday
and reminisced with his old friends
and there is his painting of Rainier
and Mom sang and danced over there,
and lived and died under this roof
that last day,
and over there is where the sons
played the piano and laughed together
and, later, their loves joined us
under this roof and joined in the laughter
while the pandemic made of our home
a safe island and refuge
I feel all the love with me still
Dad’s love and Mom’s
and the sons’ and their partners’
and the love of the man
who helped make this home
with me
I feel the wholeness
and fulness
of my life
and am grateful
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
I have a whole universe in my thoughts.
And I decide what happens in there.
I am the boss of me.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Hold steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionately to their occupancy of your thoughts.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
Dear friend,
It’s interesting to hear your perspective on things. It’s good to hear that you oppose the violence of January 6th – and I assume you oppose any talk of future violence, too. A violent Civil War wouldn’t be helpful to our country, would it?
Lies have been spread from right-wing news sources that people who “pretended to be Trump supporters” were part of the insurrection that day, but there has been no actual evidence of this.
What I saw in live time, from my chair in front of the television, was a mob of people, crashing over the barricades into the capitol, attacking the capitol police, filling the halls of our capitol building with uncontrolled rage and hate. What I saw was a noose set up for VP Pence because he wouldn’t go along with Donald Trump’s plan to discount the legal votes of the more than 81 million people who voted for Biden. What I saw was Donald Trump spurring these insurrectionists on with phrases like “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” As the legislators were fleeing for their lives, and the capitol police were heroically defending our capitol against great odds, and against stun guns, pepper spray, baseball bats, and flagpoles – I did NOT see Donald Trump calling in the National Guard to stop the insurrection. The insurrection went on for hours before the National Guard appeared. That is not acceptable. That does not show presidential leadership. That does not show integrity.
When I listen to Donald Trump I hear him disparaging women, the disabled, and refugees and immigrants to this country. His words are full of hate. Just last night he made fun of Nikki Haley’s dress when she spoke to her followers after the New Hampshire primary. Why would any presidential candidate stoop so low as to make fun of a woman’s dress?! It’s mean. It’s unkind. It is not presidential. He talks about the migrants who come to this country through the southern border as “poisoning the blood of America” and “destroying the blood of our country” and “destroying the fabric of our country.” As a teacher who worked with children who’d migrated from Mexico, I find his words deeply disturbing. My students were hard-working, wanting to learn, wanting to excel, wanting to give back to this country. They were not “poisoning” our country. I am the grandchild of immigrants from Europe. My grandparents came to this country to make a better life for themselves and their children. And that is why my students “from the southern borders” came to this country, too. Note that Donald Trump doesn’t use disparaging words against my white grandparents. He reserves those comments for the people who come through the southern border. He appears, to me, to be a racist.
Karen
driving to the comforts of home
imagining a warm fire in the woodstove
a cat curled in my lap
and a pie in the oven
I know there is love
waiting for me in my home
and then I feel a grin come to my face
as I realize that I don’t have to wait
to get to a house to feel a home
like a turtle carries his home on his back
I carry my home in my thoughts
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Home is the consciousness of good
That holds us in its wide embrace
The steady light that comforts us
In every path our footsteps trace.”
– Rosemary C. Cobham, Christian Science Hymnal #497
There’s a new review on Amazon for my book Cosmic Connections: Sharing the Joy!
SB writes:
“I often feel like I’m right there with the author in her small town travels and happenings. The writing is fluid, poignant, and personal, yet universal – easy to translate to any place. It got me thinking about life, love, and the smallness of this big world.”
I so appreciate when someone takes the time to write a review for one of my books. It means so much to me when I read a review like this because it helps me feel I’ve connected to someone else in a positive way.
This morning I finished reading Joanna Nell’s new book, Mrs. Winterbottom Takes a Gap Year. I love Joanna Nell’s books. Here’s the review I wrote for the one I finished this morning:
I so enjoy Joanna Nell’s stories. Joanna Nell gives dignity and respect to her aging characters. Her characters are full of life and humor, wanting to make use of every moment left to them. Her books inspire me. She makes growing old fun.
My father lived to be 101 and, even as he was losing his memory, he wanted to get out and go on drives and have adventures with me. As I read Joanna Nell’s books, I can see him as the hero in one of her stories. That makes me smile.
I can’t know exactly what went through your mind that day –
For Eugene Goodman
you’ve been reluctant to step into the limelight and say –
you’ve been humble, wanting to fade quietly into the background.
But the impulse that led you to step to the front on January sixth –
the impulse that made you run towards hell –
when our government was on the verge of being felled
by its own people – continues to give me hope for our nation.
Maybe for you the choice was no choice –
you could no more have run away from the terror of that day
than the sun can stop shining. You simply did what heroes do
without question or thought.
You are a miracle. You represent the best in us.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 