baby spider pressed against my windshield as I drive down country roads with a 50 mph speed limit and soon I will be on the freeway where the speed limit is 70
I pull over and look around in my car for something I can use to lift the baby off my windshield I find an old cardboard cup sleeve and push it under the little spider until he climbs on then I take him to the side of the road and dangle him over a dandelion leaf I watch as he lowers himself onto the leaf with his spider string and then I get back in my car and head for the freeway
sometimes it’s handy to have a car littered with cardboard cup sleeves
Principle is my foundation. Mind is my guide. Soul is my music. Life is my friend in whom I abide. Truth is my protector. Love is my mother. Spirit is my reality. I need no other. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
I woke up to find out that someone(s) had attempted to steal from me – long story involving trickery and someone posing as me in an email. Anyway. At first I was freaked out by this. But then this weird thing happened. I felt this kind of detached calm about it all. I took the steps I needed to take to to try to fix the problem, and then got in my car and drove up to Bellingham for a nice walk on the boardwalk. The sky still had pink in it when I got up there. There were goldeneye ducks and seagulls and cool patterns in the bay. Everyone I passed gave me a friendly smile for a smile. It was lovely.
I stopped at the Colophon and as soon as I walked in the hostess/server asked me if I’d like my favorite peach Arnold Palmer drink – she recognized me! And then she led me back to my favorite seat in the corner. I ordered some avocado toast and sipped my peach tea and just soaked up the happy vibes.
It came to me that I was in control of how I was going to feel. The person who had attempted to steal from me wasn’t the boss of me, and had no say in how I was going to feel about my day.
The server gave me another peach tea to take with me when I left, and I left a big tip in appreciation for the friendly kindness I’d felt at the restaurant – a reminder of all the good folks in the world with me.
Shakespeare wrote: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” And I saw how true that was today. I could choose to be all ruffled and affronted at the way my morning had started. Or I could choose to find joy for myself.
Life isn’t “out to get me.” Life is good.
(Photo below is of a goldeneye duck on Bellingham Bay this morning. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
“Old age” comes little by little, I think – little surrenders of who we are to the experts and authorities, to convenience and comfort – someone tells us we need to stay out of the sun, to eat only certain foods, to travel only at the right times and to the right places, and to wash our hands after every handshake and human touch – and we listen and obey.
And so we spend our days in “preventative” exams – counting the pills into our trays – hoping to increase the number of our days. And little by little we relinquish the small pleasures that make life meaningful – the joy of adventure, noon-time lunch with our faces turned towards the sun, whipped cream on our cocoa, shaking hands with new friends, and listening to our own hearts to create lives worth living.
And we lose our lives in a fear of death. – Karen Molenaar Terrell (Originally published January 8, 2017)
sustained and maintained by the body of Life – we are nothing less than the whole perfection projection reflection affection of Love held in the never-ending connection with all that is Good -Karen Molenaar Terrell
Today I heard, again, the story of the servants who were given a sum of money by their master, with the expectation that the servants would increase the sum and help their master prosper while he was away on a trip. There are times when I’ve heard this story and felt sympathy for the man afraid of loss – who buried his talent, afraid he would lose it, afraid of his boss. There are times when I’ve looked at the other servants – the ones who increased the talents they were given and wondered how they’d done that – had they gotten involved in pyramid schemes or the stock market or gambling or something?
But today when I heard the story again, another thought came to me: What if the talents symbolize life itself? What if we’ve all been given a life – one life, let’s say – do we bury it in the dirt like the scared servant – afraid of losing it? Is that the way? Or do we let go and release ourselves from fear and witness the good increase – watch it unfold and appear – as we invest our lives in love, joy, truth in the now and here. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
An alpine butterfly flits among the flowers on Table Mountain. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.
It says 3:33 on the clock beside the bed and when I look at the clock sideways I see birds flying on the canvas in my head. I think, “Somewhere in the world a new life has just been born!” I’m filled with hope – not “hoping-for-the-best” hope, but expectancy- of-good hope – hope bigger and vaster, reaching me faster than the speed of light. -Karen Molenaar Terrell
Love’s celebration feel the joy surrounding you never-ending Life -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
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 