Category: Gratitude

The Christmas Pizza

/ colleen arnold / 11 Comments Featured

An updated 2020 version………

Between over-decorating, over-eating and over-spending, the Christmas season can be overwhelming. Add the stress of Covid 19 and its easy to feel cheerless and exhausted. It doesn’t have to be that way, as I learned the Christmas Neil was in the hospital.

It was only three months after his diagnosis, but deep down we all knew it was his last Christmas. Things weren’t going well with his chemo, his appetite and energy were fading, and the team of doctors on his case bounced him back and forth because no one wanted to face the Christmas elephant in the room.

In typical Neil fashion, he was excited about the holiday even from his hospital bed, and I had no intention of leaving him alone. That meant there were no decorations at home other than the few I set up before he went into the hospital. There were no gifts except for the ones I purchased earlier that year. Wrapping and Christmas cards? Nope. Not even Christmas dinner.

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A Walking Meditation

/ colleen arnold / 6 Comments Featured

I walk a lot. Up and down my hilly road, on the trail behind my house, on trails through the Blue Ridge Mountains – even in circles around my dining room table when I can’t get outside. Walking calms my mind and exercises my body, but it can also soothe my soul. I know a lot of us are walking even more in these days of closed gyms and social isolation, so here’s an idea for turning those walks into moments with God.

If you are on a time limit, set the timer on your watch or cell phone to three minutes for each of the sections. If you’re not on a strict schedule, just allow each part of the meditation to spontaneously conclude on its own.

Introduction: Start your walk simply by inviting God to show you His creation. Thank Him for this specific time together. Stand still for a minute and take a few deep breaths to clear your head and engage your body. Then start walking at a comfortable pace.

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On Being Fickle

/ colleen arnold / 2 Comments Featured

It is 92 degrees on this second to last day of September. Thunder rolls in the distance, while heat lightening dances overhead. The air is so humid that the dog and I are sweating and panting after the first few steps of our walk.

“Where are the cool, crisp days of autumn?” I lament.

Then I recall how just a few days ago at work I shivered in my white coat despite three layers underneath, and secretly prayed the office air conditioner would break. That day I longed to feel warm.

And in just a few months, when I go out for a walk in the snow, today’s weather will come to mind. I’ll wish for my sweaty T-shirt and shorts instead of my heavy boots and stuffy parka.

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Me and Elton John: Thoughts on the Simple Life

/ colleen arnold / 6 Comments

Who would have thought that a noisy, crowded rock concert would remind me of the joys in my simple life?

I climbed into my seat high in the arena last month and waited excitedly with 25,000 other noisy fans for Elton John to perform one of the concerts in his final tour. Suddenly, without fanfare, he appeared at the piano and started to play. His sequined jacket flickered like a million tiny stars every time he moved. The mirror over his keyboard reflected his stubby fingers as they pounded out the melody, and the jumbotron showed a bright pink scarf framing his aged face.

With my eyes open, I was clapping and singing along with everyone else, but with my eyes closed, I was transported back in time. I saw my dad humming Someone Saved my Life Tonight while my siblings and I argued in the back seat of his baby blue Cadillac. I saw myself making a chart of life goals as I sang I’m Still Standing. I saw my husband dancing to Can You Feel the Love Tonight with one of our baby girls wrapped in his arms. Continue reading →

The Marathon Finish Line

/ colleen arnold / 10 Comments

Sometimes the small accomplishments mean more than the marathon ones.

Back in the 1980s someone dared my husband to run the Shamrock marathon without any serious training or preparation. Always up for a challenge, he accepted. He didn’t set any great records, but he did finish that race. He even had the runner’s patch to prove it. Now here I was, twenty-five years later, clutching that faded patch in my hands as I searched a new generation of marathon runners for my daughter.

Six months earlier, my husband was diagnosed with cancer. Our daughter, Jacquelyn, signed up to run that year’s Shamrock Marathon in his honor. She joined the Livestrong Cancer Foundation team and raised more money than anyone on her team except for the CEO of the foundation. She was even the featured runner for the marathon’s publicity newsletter.

Sadly, she was now running the race in her Dad’s memory. Although she wasn’t quite as unprepared as he once was, her training schedule fizzled down to an occasional walk in the last weeks of her dad’s life. Continue reading →