{"id":1278,"date":"2014-08-03T17:46:25","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T17:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1278"},"modified":"2014-07-20T19:31:16","modified_gmt":"2014-07-20T19:31:16","slug":"wear-is-your-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/08\/wear-is-your-best.html","title":{"rendered":"Wear is your best?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of Michael Elliott\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Why don’t you wear that lovely\u00a0ewelry\/that dress\/those shoes more often?<\/p>\n

“Oh, it’s too good to wear everyday. I only save it for special occasions.”<\/p>\n

“So, when was the last time you wore it?”<\/p>\n

“Oh, it’s been so long, I can’t remember…”<\/p>\n

Does this conversation sound familiar? It sure does to me. I’ve heard it again and again, spoken between me, sometimes, and another patient, or overheard in a doctor’s waiting room. Rarely, if ever, do we consciously think of wearing something “good” for something like a medical appointment. It seems so incongruous, so out of place.<\/p>\n

Yet, given the amount of time we spend going from doctor to test to doctor and back again, the time that we have for “special occasions” is abbreviated at best, and often, for long stretches, nonexistent. So, we leave our “best” in a drawer or closet, gathering dust but not memories. And soon, we also leave our best smile, our best kind word, our best attitude behind, too.<\/p>\n

What’s left?<\/p>\n

Well, not exactly our best.<\/p>\n

As I wrote in my previous post,”this is the day the Lord has made.”\u00a0This<\/em> day, this specific day. \u00a0And given it is a day that Our Father in Heaven has gifted us with, think of the difference it would make if we wore our best.<\/p>\n

What if we dusted off our best dress, our best smile? What if we used our kindest vocabulary and took along (and used) our most patient attitude?<\/p>\n

The depths of the heart are precious reservoirs of love and care and grace. By putting on our best, whenever we face the world, whether at a doc’s office or elsewhere, we put that reservoir to use – and we help make\u00a0this<\/em> day better, more blessed, for others, too.<\/p>\n

Peace and joy,<\/p>\n

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

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I’ve heard it again…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4,383,379],"tags":[1155,29,1156,1157,155,56],"class_list":["post-1278","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","category-heart-health","category-lupus-2","tag-beauty","tag-chronic-illness","tag-coping-with-chronic-illnesss","tag-coping-with-chronic-pain","tag-grace","tag-love"],"yoast_head":"\nWear is your best? - 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\/08\/wear-is-your-best.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wear is your best? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“Why don’t you wear that lovely\u00a0ewelry\/that dress\/those shoes more often? “Oh, it’s too good to wear everyday. 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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\/1278","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=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1279,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions\/1279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}