Wishing You and Yours…
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Tag Archives: peace
Waiting for the Christmas Spirit
Waiting for the Christmas Spirit
The kitsch and spangles
and baubles and bangles,
And department store Santa,
just really can’ta
Seem to bring me
the spirit of Christmas.
And I’ve been waiting to feel it –
the real Christmas spirit
Hoping it’d come by now.
The stockings are stuffed,
the tree is all buffed,
The cookies are baked
and frosted and fluffed
But there’s still something missing –
a feeling, a tingling
that’s supposed to come every Christmas.
Except…
Maybe that Christmas feeling,
that energy and tingling
Is something I can have every day –
It doesn’t depend on spangles,
or jingly-bell jangles
Or jolly men dressed all in red.
It comes in the sharing
of laughter and caring
And the comfort in words with love said:
To all – Peace! Joy! Hope!
Every moment of every day.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell, from The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Christmas Book
Seek Peace…
“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.”
– Psalms 34
Sunrise in Skagit County, Washington. (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)
T’was Two Weeks Afore Christmas
T’was two weeks afore Christmas and all through Eff Bee
not a creature was stirring – not a she, he, or me
We were prostrate and spent from the holiday bustle
not a twitch could be seen from the teeniest muscle…
T’was Two Weeks Afore Christmas
T’was two weeks afore Christmas and all through Eff Bee
not a creature was stirring – not a she, he, or me
We were prostrate and spent from the holiday bustle
not a twitch could be seen from the teeniest muscle.
We lay all unblinking in our respective beds
while visions of gift-wrapping swirled through our heads
And clad in our jammies and our way cool madcaps
we had the vague hopeful hope our bodies would take naps.
Holiday jangles and jingles pinged through our brains –
Presley, Crosby, and Mathis taking us down memory lanes –
and would we remember every member to be gifted?
We mentally went through our lists, hoping none were omitted.
There were homes to be decorated and cards to be sent,
parties, caroling, and cookie-making, and we hadn’t made a dent.
But with a collective sigh we remembered there…
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Christmas Moon
Christmas morning walk…
Up
Up
by Xander Terrell
If only fear could fuel a rocket,
we could reach the moon in time
to escape these shadows.
We could bring the sun down to earth
to brighten our days in time
to watch them burn.
They would do anything to love themselves,
except love each other.
You would do anything to love them,
except love yourself.
If only hatred could melt metal,
no more bombs, knives, or bullets.
If only ignorance could feed the hungry,
what an abundant world we would live in.
If only greed could make life everlasting,
then there would be no need to be greedy.
Success for us is being better off
than the people who harvest your food,
produce your pleasures, and support the
successful on their broken backs.
What if success was measured only
on the happiness of all mankind,
and not each individual man?
What if people cared more
about making a beautiful world,
than making their little worlds beautiful?
– Xander Terrell, from Dream Voyage
available at Amazon.com
Never Outside the Reach of Love
“Love now is dawning over every nation…”
– Margaret Morrison, Christian Science Hymnal
You’ve Got This
My dear Humoristian hooligans –
Fill your hearts up with kindness and courage. Be alert. Be aware. Be vigilant. We are entering challenging times, but you have everything you need to face them. You have an armor of love, a shield of humor, and a community of fellow Humoristians who care as you do about the world. You are not alone out there. The world needs you – it needs your hearts and humor and kindness. Go out there and bring laughter to those living in a desert of gloom and doom. Bring hope to those desperate for a kind word. Find the beauty. Live in love. You’ve got this. Amen.
Karen
And now for a moment of joy…
“Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
This morning Scotty and I went up to Bellingham for a walk on the boardwalk with Sam the Wonder Dog, and then breakfast at the Harris Avenue Cafe. It was like this little piece of Heaven. We stepped out of the stresses and pressures for a couple hours – took a little break together – I told Scott it felt “luxurious.” It was fun sitting in the cafe, surrounded by happy people sounds.
I’m thinking we ALL need a little break right now – time to fill our beings’ up with the things that don’t rust, depreciate, or decompose: Love, joy, integrity, kindness, wisdom – these are things that never lose value.
“Think of all the beauty that’s still left in and around you and be happy!”
– Anne Frank
“Stop complaining about the management of the universe. Look around for a place to sow a few seeds of happiness.”
– Henry Van Dyke
“I believe we’re on earth to delight each other, make each other laugh, and to infuse one another with His joy. Why not? What’ve we got better to do?”
– Burt Rosenberg
(all photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell)
Clara and her tail.
Happy Girl
SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES
Snow geese in Skagit County, WA. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell
An alpine butterfly flits among the flowers on Table Mountain. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.
Sunrise on the Way to Work Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell
Shuksan Reflection
Sunset from Clayton Beach
photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell
Windowsill (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)
Mama Robin and babies on our porch. (Karen Molenaar Terrell)
The sons at Lincoln City.
This bird settled on my hand while I was tromping around Mount Baker, and let me snap his picture…
Tartan
Mount Shuksan
sunflower and bee
Trumpeter Swans and Snow Geese in Bow
Otters in Bellingham
Dancing in Boulevard Park
No Place Safer
In the last several days I’ve been sort of toying with the idea of moving my family and myself to New Zealand. Beautiful country. The Fellowship of the Ring was filmed there. Big mountains. Nice people. They speak English there – which would be convenient.
But then I realized that the issues that we’re dealing with here in the States are the same issues our entire world is dealing with right now – racism, sexism, bigotry, hate. This is global. We are all of us up against the wall and we each have to do our part to heal these problems from wherever we are. We can’t escape this confrontation between good and evil. There’s no place we can go that’s safer than where we already are.
And I found this realization strangely comforting.
Wherever we are – Love is there. Wherever we are – Truth is there. Love fills all space and time. There is no place safer than where I am.
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 