{"id":1501,"date":"2015-01-10T23:52:16","date_gmt":"2015-01-10T23:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2015-01-03T23:58:02","modified_gmt":"2015-01-03T23:58:02","slug":"a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html","title":{"rendered":"A Praying Spirit: Every Little Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy of Serge Bertasius Photography\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’m working on a new book for Franciscan Media (due out in 2016), and in preparation, I’m reading up on Saint Francis of Assisi.<\/p>\n

Saint Francis left a big legacy and an enormous imprint on people the world over. His work lives on today in myriad ways, and brings new people to Christ each day.<\/p>\n

But what is impressing me most, now, about Saint Francis is not so much the big things, but his attention to “little” things. Nature, for example, down to the smallest flower. People, another example, down to the lowliest beggar.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, I’m trying to incorporate little things into my prayer life. A thank you to God about the smaller ways He works through my day. A mindfulness about the seeming strangers I notice, but don’t notice, really, until I think about them.<\/p>\n

Prayer is always a big deal. And in it, every little thing counts!<\/p>\n

Joy and peace,<\/p>\n

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

I’m working on a new book for Franciscan Media (due out in 2016), and in preparation, I’m reading up on Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis left a big legacy and an enormous imprint on people the world over. His work lives on today in myriad ways, and brings new people to Christ each day.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1272,1236,95,1],"tags":[1433,1434,710,96,223,1432,1431],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-praying-spirit-prayer-2","category-prayer-2","category-prayers","category-uncategorized","tag-being-mindful","tag-being-mindful-of-the-little-things","tag-little-things","tag-prayer","tag-praying","tag-saint-francis","tag-saint-francis-of-assisi"],"yoast_head":"\nA Praying Spirit: Every Little Thing - 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\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Praying Spirit: Every Little Thing - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I’m working on a new book for Franciscan Media (due out in 2016), and in preparation, I’m reading up on Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis left a big legacy and an enormous imprint on people the world over. His work lives on today in myriad ways, and brings new people to Christ each day.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-10T23:52:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-03T23:58:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2014\/02\/flowers-in-snow-by-Serge-Bertasius-Photographs-199x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Praying Spirit: Every Little Thing - 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\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Praying Spirit: Every Little Thing - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"I’m working on a new book for Franciscan Media (due out in 2016), and in preparation, I’m reading up on Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis left a big legacy and an enormous imprint on people the world over. His work lives on today in myriad ways, and brings new people to Christ each day.…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2015-01-10T23:52:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-01-03T23:58:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2014\/02\/flowers-in-snow-by-Serge-Bertasius-Photographs-199x300.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html","name":"A Praying Spirit: Every Little Thing - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2014\/02\/flowers-in-snow-by-Serge-Bertasius-Photographs-199x300.jpg","datePublished":"2015-01-10T23:52:16+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-03T23:58:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2014\/02\/flowers-in-snow-by-Serge-Bertasius-Photographs-199x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2014\/02\/flowers-in-snow-by-Serge-Bertasius-Photographs-199x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/a-praying-spirit-every-little-thing.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Praying Spirit: Every Little Thing"}]},{"@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\/1501","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=1501"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1504,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions\/1504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}