{"id":1145,"date":"2014-04-26T00:02:33","date_gmt":"2014-04-26T00:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1145"},"modified":"2014-04-16T00:26:56","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T00:26:56","slug":"the-best-easter-ever-is-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html","title":{"rendered":"The Best Easter Ever Is Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>Oh, no<\/em>, you might be thinking.\u00a0Isn’t she a week or so off? Didn’t Easter already happen? Is she calendar-challenged?<\/em><\/p>\n

Not at all! I know that April 20 was Easter Sunday. But the best Easter is today. And tomorrow. And the next day.<\/p>\n

The best Easter happens everyday when we remember that Jesus, God’s only Son, lived on earth, died, and rose again. Easter happens when we recall God’s amazing love for us, His forgiveness, His Salvation, and His promise of Life Eternal. Yes, that’s when Easter happens – in our hearts – and it’s the best!<\/p>\n

We might run out of chocolate bunnies (oh, no!), and we might have to wait until next Easter Sunday to belt out, “Hallelujah!”, but we don’t have to leave the essence of Easter behind.<\/p>\n

We’ll never run out of God’s love. We’ll always have something to sing about.<\/p>\n

And we’ll have the Best Easter Ever every single day we look to our Savior and let Him lead us on.<\/p>\n

Blessings, all!<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh, no, you might be thinking.\u00a0Isn’t she a week or so off? Didn’t Easter already happen? Is she calendar-challenged? Not at all! I know that April 20 was Easter Sunday. But the best Easter is today. And tomorrow. And the next day. The best Easter happens everyday when we remember that Jesus, God’s only Son,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4],"tags":[906,478,1015,183,311,489,1016,1014],"class_list":["post-1145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","tag-blessings","tag-easter","tag-easter-joy","tag-gods-love","tag-praise","tag-song","tag-the-best-easter","tag-the-resurrection"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Best Easter Ever Is Today - 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\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Best Easter Ever Is Today - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oh, no, you might be thinking.\u00a0Isn’t she a week or so off? Didn’t Easter already happen? Is she calendar-challenged? Not at all! I know that April 20 was Easter Sunday. But the best Easter is today. And tomorrow. And the next day. The best Easter happens everyday when we remember that Jesus, God’s only Son,…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-26T00:02:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-16T00:26:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/03\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic7-246x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Best Easter Ever Is Today - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Best Easter Ever Is Today - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"Oh, no, you might be thinking.\u00a0Isn’t she a week or so off? Didn’t Easter already happen? Is she calendar-challenged? Not at all! I know that April 20 was Easter Sunday. But the best Easter is today. And tomorrow. And the next day. The best Easter happens everyday when we remember that Jesus, God’s only Son,…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2014-04-26T00:02:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-04-16T00:26:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/03\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic7-246x300.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html","name":"The Best Easter Ever Is Today - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/03\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic7-246x300.jpg","datePublished":"2014-04-26T00:02:33+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-16T00:26:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/03\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic7-246x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/03\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic7-246x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/the-best-easter-ever-is-today.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Best Easter Ever Is Today"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/","name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32","name":"mpratt","description":"Several years ago, Maureen Pratt earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts\/Playwriting from UCLA's School of Theater, FIlm and Television. 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\/1145","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=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1146,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions\/1146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}