Of Kindling and Light
Home from work
to a house cold and dark
I create a companion
of left-over embers, paper,
kindling, and cedar logs
My friend breathes
and moves and grows –
a living being of warmth
It fills my home with light
and comfort.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
The darkest day will be here soon
and then the light will return –
unstoppable, irresistible, irrepressible –
and all that was hidden in the darkness
will be revealed.
Behold the glory of Truth and Love!
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Let there be light!”
– Genesis 1
“Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
A rainbow arches over Padilla Bay in Skagit County, Washington. (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)
“Many people need desperately to receive this message: ‘I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'”
– Kurt Vonnegut
Something very cool happened this year: People I never knew existed suddenly appeared in my life voicing the same concerns I’ve voiced, sharing the same values as me, befriending me, offering their support when I’ve felt discouraged or afraid, and letting me know I’m not alone. It’s been amazing, really, how we’ve all managed to find each other in these unsettling, dark times. Just as the metaphorical batteries in my flashlight start to die, and the light starts to go out, suddenly someone will appear out of nowhere and shine his light out of the darkness and offer help, and tell me I’m not alone.
It has meant the world to me.
There have also been friends who have “defriended” me in the last year, too, of course – because I am so controversial and badass and stuff 🙂 – but I’m thinking for every friend who felt the need to defriend me, three more new friends have suddenly appeared to offer friendship.
I am rich with true friends – both old friends and new – I am wealthy beyond imagining.
My dear Humoristian hooligans –
May you bring your abundant kindness and wisdom into today. May you lighten the hearts of the scared and despairing with your courage and good will to all mankind, and may you bring healthy, healing laughter to the stodgy, stingy, and staid. May you find hope and beauty in the good continually unfolding around you. May you make a new friend, find a new song, and leave behind something beautiful. Amen.
Go out there and work your magic!
Love,
Karen
Happy solstice, everyone! “Let there be light!”
Moon from Bow, WA (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)
Happy solstice, everyone!
Sunrise in Bow, Washington (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)
“We are sometimes led to believe that darkness is as real as light; but Science affirms darkness to be only a mortal sense of the absence of light, at the coming of which darkness loses the appearance of reality.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
“Eternal Truth is changing the universe. As mortals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought expands into expression. ‘Let there be light,’ is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love, changing chaos into order and discord into the music of the spheres.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
As we celebrate our Winter Solstice, allow me to share some of my favorite quotes on “light” from The Bible and from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy:
“Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light. The grass beneath our feet silently exclaims, ‘The meek shall inherit the earth.’ The modest arbutus sends her sweet breath to heaven. The great rocks gives shadow and shelter. The sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the flower, beautifies the landscape, bless the earth.” – From Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
“DAY. The irradiance of Life; light; the spiritual idea of Truth and Love. ‘And the evening and the morning were the first day.’ (Genesis i.5.) The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God’s day, and ‘there shall be no night there.’” – Mary Baker Eddy
“MORNING. Light; symbol of Truth; revelation and progress.” – Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” – Gen 1: 1-5
“All questions as to the divine creation being both spiritual and material are answered in this passage, for though solar beams are not yet included in the record of creation, still there is light. This light is not from the sun nor from volcanic flames, but it is the revelation of Truth and of spiritual ideas. This also shows that there is no place where God’s light is not seen, since Truth, Life, and Love fill immensity and are ever-present. Was not this a revelation instead of a creation?” – Mary Baker Eddy
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” – I John 1:1-5
”O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.” – Psalms 43:3
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day…” – Psalms 139: 7-12
“Truth destroys falsity and error, for light and darkness cannot dwell together. Light extinguishes the darkness, and the Scripture declares that there is ‘no night there.’ To Truth there is no error, – all is Truth.” – From Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
“Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. “ – Isaiah 60:1
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, a put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” – Matthew 5: 14-16
“Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day…” – I Thess. 5: 5
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” – II Corinthians 4: 6
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another…” – I John 1: 5-7
“Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose ‘light shall we see light;’ and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense…Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love, and not a vitalizing property of matter. ” – Mary Baker Eddy
“We are sometimes led to believe that darkness is as real as light; but Science affirms darkness to be only a mortal sense of the absence of light, at the coming of which darkness loses the appearance of reality.” – Mary Baker Eddy
“Eternal Truth is changing the universe. As mortals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought expands into expression. ‘Let there be light,’ is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love, changing chaos into order and discord into the music of the spheres.” – Mary Baker Eddy
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 