Lately these memories have kept coming up – memories of times I was treated unfairly, bullied, ridiculed, misjudged, betrayed by people I trusted and loved (the kinds of things probably most people have experienced at some point) – and it was painful for me. But I knew there was some lesson I was supposed to get from these memories – something I still needed to learn from the past – so, this time, I didn’t just try to dance around them – I let the memories do what they needed to do for me. And then today this thought came to me: “What is it you think you’re lacking here? Do you not think you have enough love? Do you feel like you’ve been denied something you should have had, but didn’t?” And that caught me up short and I found myself shaking my head at my ricidulousness and laughing out loud. And I realized there was NEVER a moment when I lacked love – or when I lacked ANYthing real and good in my life! My life has overflowed with love! I am, and always have been, wealthy beyond fathoming with love! I’ve never been on the outside of Love and NOTHING has or ever could separate me from Love, God.
grape vines ripped out from the protective cocoon by human hands that don’t realize the secret hidden inside what they prune mama gently grabs her baby In her mouth and climbs through the briar branches – a tunnel of sweet roses, thorns, and twigs and scurries and hurries to find a new home for her little one she pauses once as the human looks at her and softly says, “Hello there!” in awe and wonder and then she continues on her journey to make a new nest for her little rat kit in the roses, thorns, and twigs -Karen Molenaar Terrell
When you share your rainbow photo – and I share mine – we are adding to what we both perceive – connecting to the divine. I share my words and you share your art and we bring each other into a bigger part of the Whole. If what we are is beyond our bodies and includes everything we perceive – then sharing our perceptions with each other helps us to conceive something bigger; helps us leave the limits of our own limited points of view – helps us see a bigger picture of what is whole and true. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Rainbow over a barn in Bow, WA. Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
Rainbow Over Padilla Bay. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.
My seagull with sea star made it on the back page of Mother Earth News (August/September). This is the sixth time for me (yes, I’m counting 😀), but it still tickles me to see one of my photos in there.
I float in the current of Love carried and buoyed above all doubts and fears and pain and tears. God loves me! – and I feel the presence and power of Love unfolding healing in me. Joy abounds! I arrive and walk on holy ground. – Karen Molenaar Terrell
Finding magic within the bounds that life gives us finding magic in the right here, and the right now – in the sunlight and the rain, a walk around the ‘hood, in a baby’s smile and a bird’s song and how a butterfly flits towards the sun. Creating adventures in the backyard when life keeps us from the mountains, bushwhacking through the overgrown garden, imagining the birdbath is an Italian fountain. Playing like a child again – simple, organic, free – without a need to travel far, or for life to bigger be. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
Maybe 25 years ago, in a magic encounter, a woman in Sedro gifted me with crocosmia bulbs. I planted them in our then home and then dug them up and bought them to Bow when we moved here 20 years ago. I planted them by a stump. Over the years the stump got overgrown and the crocosmia stopped blooming. I sort of forgot about them. But today – look what popped out to say “hi”!
Here’s an excerpt from Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist in which I describe how I acquired these crocosmia:
On my daily walks of five years ago I use to pass this beautiful yard that looked like a park. There were islands of flowers everywhere, all aesthetically placed and pleasing to the eye. It was obvious that the hand of a professional was at work there. But for months I never saw anyone actually working in the garden. I was intrigued. The flowers that most caught my eye in this garden were the long sprays of flame-orange crocosmia that shot out of the islands. I’d never seen this type of plant before – or if I had, I’d never noticed it – but they were hard to miss in this garden.
I found myself lusting after them. Weeks went by and the crocosmia were on their last legs when I finally met the owner of the garden. She was directing a handful of children in the weeding of her garden when I first saw her. She was pretty, lively, and had an aura of positive energy about her, and she was directing her child-helpers from a wheelchair. I walked up to her, shook her hand, introduced myself, and told her I’d been admiring her bright orange flowers for weeks. Laughing, she agreed that they were, indeed, beautiful. She told me they were called “crocosmia” and generously offered to give me some bulbs in the autumn. She didn’t have to offer twice. She gave me her card – I learned she worked at the University of Washington – and told me to call her in October and she’d dig some bulbs up for me.
When October came I was too shy to call. So I just kept walking by her house, hoping she would see me and recognize me. This was a long shot, I knew. This woman was a busy lady and probably met a lot of people on a daily basis – if she even remembered who I was it would be a miracle. But, as we learn in Christian Science, miracles (or rather natural goodnesses) do happen! There came a day when the garden lady was out in her yard as I walked by. She looked up, immediately recognized me, and told me that now was the perfect time to dig up some crocosmia bulbs.
I came home from that walk with a plastic bag brimming with bulbs, feeling like I’d just robbed a candy store. When we moved to Bow several years later and built our new house, I planted those bulbs in my Secret Garden. I think of that pretty lady with the lively spirit, and her generosity to me.
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 