{"id":1143,"date":"2014-04-24T01:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T01:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1143"},"modified":"2014-04-16T00:26:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T00:26:27","slug":"sick-people-are-easter-people-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/sick-people-are-easter-people-too.html","title":{"rendered":"Sick People Are Easter People, Too!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>Oh, my but some people have low expectations of us. They think that because we’re sick or in pain, we have to go around looking like we feel. Or, they hesitate to include us in enjoyable activities or allow us to be part of church services, sometimes, because they think it will be “too much” for us because of our disability, infirmity, or age. Yes, some people think that sick or older people are good for only being…sick or old, which can certainly risk cramping our style.<\/p>\n

But, we sick people are Easter people! We have the light of Christ within us and it wants to shine, not only in places where there is sickness, but everywhere we can possibly go. \u00a0Outside, inside, among strangers, with friends.<\/p>\n

Yes, we are intended for greater things that being the subject of pitying stares or embarrassed glances. \u00a0But it can be hard to think so in the face of some others’ expectations.<\/p>\n

This Easter Season poses a perfect opportunity to dust off our Easter People appearance, to put on compassion, encouragement, peace, joy, and all of the positive attributes that are Easter itself. Today and throughout is an ideal time to act like Easter People in the face of any naysayers, to show them by our actions and our words that we are active, working in the vineyard, and want to be and remain firmly among others who do the same, working in whatever ministry God has put on our hearts to have.<\/p>\n

We are never too sick, old, infirm, or in pain to be active parts of the Christian community. And as we disspell misunderstandings and rise above the low expectations, we, even more, can be grateful and glad that, yes, we are Easter People, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh, my but some people have low expectations of us. They think that because we’re sick or in pain, we have to go around looking like we feel. Or, they hesitate to include us in enjoyable activities or allow us to be part of church services, sometimes, because they think it will be “too much”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[306,3,43,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas-season-2012-2013","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSick People Are Easter People, Too! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/sick-people-are-easter-people-too.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sick People Are Easter People, Too! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oh, my but some people have low expectations of us. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1151,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions\/1151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}