Note to self:
You’re not born with a finite supply
of hearing, seeing, moving, being
that’s going to run out at some point
and leave you deaf, blind, arthritic,
and dead.
Don’t feel like you have to reserve life
and lay some aside like some crazy miser,
holding your life back for future use –
your life needs you to live it right now.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
“Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof.”
-Mary Baker Eddy
It’s a matter of trust.
Without trust, we shut the door on joys and love
that might have been ours and instead spend time
analyzing and imagining the bad that could happen
if we open the door wide to what’s outside
and let Life embrace us.
We limit what we can do and be and know and see
and have in our lives.
And when eventually our lives come to an end
we look back and wonder what might have been
if we’d just trusted in Life.
It’s a matter of trust.
With trust, we can open our hearts wide to Life
and to the endless possibilities and opportunities
for being and sharing and giving and living
without fear of lack, or hurt, or failure or loss –
knowing Love will celebrate with us
when we open our heart’s door
and let Life shower and pour
Its treasures on you and me
in ways we can’t possibly foresee.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
When I’ve read memoirs about the Holocaust it’s always struck me how – as the insanity played out on the political stage – people continued to go about their lives – going on walks, going to work, going to school, getting married, celebrating birthdays, celebrating life. It always struck me as kind of odd. But today, as I was corresponding with a dear friend, I had a kind of epiphany about it. We are, right now, living through a time that will probably be considered “historic” at some point. And we continue to go on our walks in the sunshine, and go to work, and go after our dreams, and get married, and celebrate life. And we have to, don’t we? I mean, this is our one chance at life. And if we let it all be dictated by politics – if we focused all our time and attention on the stuff that’s going on in Washington, DC – we’d never get a chance to have the sunshine, and to dance and laugh and sing and do all the really important things.
So, while we’re battling all the insanity in DC, let’s not forget to also make time for ourselves to do the things in life that bring us joy.
“No, you’re living.”
photo of sailboat on Bellingham Bay by Karen Molenaar Terrell
Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans – John Lennon
I use to think if I could just get through this appointment, and that meeting, and the scheduled event I could get on with living my life – and then it hit me – WHOAH – that stuff IS my life! I know. Duh, right?
photo of the Seattle skyline by Karen Molenaar Terrell
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 