Tag Archives: love

January 28, 2023: Highlights from a Day

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January 28, 2023
The highlights of my day:

– The sunrise!!!

-There’s a shop closing in Bellingham – the owner is retiring. I happened to be walking by the door just as the owner, who was inside the store, reached the door with a big box. I swung the door open like it was choreographed for me to do that. She was surprised and thanked me and I wished her a happy retirement. I love when people connect at the just right moment.

– An aisle at the local supermarket was blocked by a young family – the father was on his cellphone and was unaware that people were trying to get around him. I moved to the side so a gentleman on the other side of the family could try to squeeze through – the gentleman smiled at me and thanked me and managed to get through – “I made it!” he said, grinning. And then I squeezed past the little family, too, without knocking anything over. Victory! I love it when people can adjust to each other, and problem solve and have fun with each other.

– Years ago – in August 2001 (just three weeks before 9-11) my family and I visited NYC. I bought a little necklace at Tiffany’s while I was there. I haven’t been able to wear this necklace for years, though, because the chain got all tangled up. I have another necklace – a locket with pictures of my sons when they were toddlers – that I couldn’t wear because it lost its clasp. Today I decided to see if I could get these necklaces fixed. I brought my necklaces into the supermarket jewelry department to see if they could add a clasp to the one necklace and untangle the other. It would take a couple weeks to add a clasp, the man there told me, but he could untangle the chain for me on the other necklace – and he did! For free!

– I went to a second jewelry store to see if they had a clasp for the locket. They had one that might work, but it would cost $90 and I didn’t feel like I could spend that much for a clasp. The kind salesclerk understood, but she asked me if she could clean the Tiffany necklace for me – no charge!

– I went to a third jewelry store (Dreamworks Jewelry) to see if THEY might have a clasp for my necklace there. And oh! I LOVED this store! It was like walking back in time. There were old clocks everywhere – chiming and clicking – and the place was a glorious, happy mess of projects. A man with a magnifying glass in front of his eye came from behind his desk and asked me how he could help. I asked him if he might have a clasp for the necklace. He said yes, he could take care of my necklace for me. He rummaged around in a drawer, found what he needed, applied his jeweler’s tools, and – voila! – handed me my necklace all fixed! And he only charged me $15!

I’m wearing my locket with the new clasp as I type. It feels good to have it around my neck again.

Practitioner’s Invitation

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Come with me!
Join me here
in this place where I AM.
Just there, beyond
the five senses.
A universe of Love.
A presence called Life.
A power called Truth.
Do you feel it with you?
Do you feel yourself
baptized and immersed
in this presence of Love?
Come! Join me here!

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

This Is God Talking to Me

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I’m praying, but I can’t seem to find God
in my thoughts. I can’t hear Her voice.
It’s 3:00 in the morning when I head
downstairs to read. I sit on the couch
and pull a blanket around me and open
my book. Timid black cat jumps onto
the couch and slowly moves closer to me
until I pull him next to me and he lays
down, belly-up, trusting me, expecting
kindness, and his trust fills me with joy.
And I realize that this is God talking to me.
I pet his belly and click on Facebook’s
messenger on my phone and see
new messages waiting for me.
I open them and find words of love
and comfort and caring and connection
in the voices of my friends.
And I know that this is God talking to me.
The night is still, but I can feel it gently
pulsing with Life and Love. And I am
enveloped in the joy of be-ing.
This is God talking to me.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Blue Cosmos (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)

Disturbing the Waters

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Yes, our country needs to unite – but not behind the KKK, the Nazis, or anyone who uses hate groups as a tool.

And yes, Love is the answer. But Love shouldn’t be confused with that fear-based thing where we stop ourselves from doing and saying what we know needs to be done and said because we’re afraid of “making waves” or we’re afraid of confrontation. Sometimes evil needs to be confronted and called out. We need to love. We don’t need to appease. We don’t need to placate, mollify, or pacify. If someone’s feelings are hurt because we happen to disagree with them – that shouldn’t stop us from saying and doing what we know is right. We shouldn’t let ourselves be controlled by others like that. That’s not Love. That’s being a scaredy cat.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

“Neither sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish error in any form, and certainly we should not be error’s advocate…Attempts to conciliate society and so gain dominion over mankind, arise from worldly weakness….If you venture upon the quiet surface of error and are in sympathy with error, what is there to disturb the waters? What is there to strip off error’s disguise?”
– Mary Baker Eddy

(Originally published in August 2017.)

I Need No Other

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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

Love is the Only Cause and Effect

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Love is the only source;
the only cause; the only effect;
the only power; the only presence;
the only creator. Love is All.

We come from Love;
we are the effect of Love;
we manifest the power of Love;
we express the presence of Love;
we reflect the perfection of Love;
we are the image and likeness of our creator;
we are the ideas and children of Love.

Anything that would keep us
from being the reflection of perfect Love
is a lie
for we are Love being Love.

Love is omnipotent, omnipresent, glorious All.
And we are Her children.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Christmas Has Landed in My heart!

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It’s 3:00 in the morning when I awake
to find it arrived while I slept!
Christmas has landed in my heart!
I slip out of the bedroom
and go downstairs and the cats
greet me in the hall.
I think they feel it, too.
I plug in the Christmas lights
above the mantel and settle
into my chair near the woodstove.
Black cat rubs his head against my hand.
Calico cat jumps up in the chair
next to mine and tucks her paws
underneath her and closes her eyes –
we are enjoying each other’s company.
The Christmas lights sparkle off
the smooth surfaces around me.
I sing “Silent Night” to the cats
and they turn to me and listen.
Magic is here! Incredible good beyond
imagining is here and more on its way!
Peace! Joy! Love! Hope!
It’s here! It’s here! It’s here!

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Christmas Lights

Grateful for the Christmases That Have Been

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The sons are no longer toddlers
bopping and skipping around the home –
they’re grown now
and making traditions
and lives of their very own.

Mom and Dad have passed on –
they’ve moved on to their next chapter –
and I guess we’re moving on, too,
and finding the new adventures
that await us in our “after.”

Whatever the future holds –
I’m grateful for the Christmases that have been –
for the love and the memories
that will be with me forever –
for the love of my family and friends.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Christmas Wrapping

Singing in the Car with Alison Krauss

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I just had a wonderful drive with Alison Krauss. Well, okay, Alison Krauss wasn’t actually in the car with me. But her voice was. And it was lovely.

I was driving home, after a visit with my parents, and just as I got to Seattle big, fluffy snowflakes started floating down around me. It was like being inside one of those glass bubbles that has “snow” trapped inside it.  It was dark, and the snow made it even more difficult to see, but I was suddenly filled with such a sense of peace and joy, that driving felt more like a celebration than a hazard. I’d put an Alison Krauss CD in my car’s CD-player, and, as the snow started falling, her delightful riff leading into the Beatles I Will filled my car with a playfulness and a joy that was almost tangible. I realized that the cars around me were moving in complete harmony with me and with the song – it was like we were all doing a happy dance together – perfectly-timed and choreographed.

“Who knows how long I’ve loved you? You know I love you still…”  I’d always thought those words and that song were romantic – it was a song I’d sung at least once at a wedding. But now I found those words and that song taking on a different meaning for me. My mom’s sweet, smiling face came into focus in my thoughts and I held her there for a moment – just completely filled with the joy of the love we share for each other. Then my dad came through my thoughts, and I mentally hugged him; then my husband, my sons, my co-workers, my bosses, my neighbors, my friends – even those with whom I’d had conflict – one-by-one passed through my thoughts.  And as each new face appeared I mentally wrapped love and joy around my thoughts of that person.  The playful, irrepressible joy of that song, and Krauss’s performance of it, simply could not be overthrown or trampled down. Anger and frustration had no choice but to melt away before the happy onslaught of banjos and love.

It was a transforming experience for me, and when the snow finally stopped falling and the song had ended, I felt like I’d just been privileged to be a part of something magical and wondrous. The feeling of joy still lingers.

Later I thought some more about the song and its words:

“Who knows how long I’ve loved you
You know I love you still
Will I wait a lonely lifetime?
If you want me to, I will.
I love you forever and forever
Love you with all my heart
Love you whenever we’re together
Love you when we’re apart.
And when at last I find you
Your song will fill the air
Sing it loud so I can hear you
Make it easy to be near you
For the things you do, endear you to me
Oh, you know I will, I will”

And it occurred to me that God, Love itself, could sing those words to you and me. How long has God loved us? Forever and ever and for always. She loves us when we’re near Her in our thoughts, and She loves us when we’re not. She loves us when we know Her, and She loves us when we don’t. And we are dear and precious to Her. “I will, I will,” are our Father-Mother God’s words and promise to us. Unconditional, unfailing love is ours to give, and ours to receive.

(Originally posted February, 2012 and now a part of *The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Middle Book*.)

The Light Will Soon Return

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separated and alone
isolated in a cold, dark season
yearning for what was
and looking for a reason
to go forward

it will take courage
to move into the next chapter
to step forward and adapt to
whatever comes next
but trust that Love is there, too,
waiting for yours, waiting for you

the light will soon return

– Karen Molenaar Terrell

Lake Padden Forest (Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)