{"id":1558,"date":"2015-02-16T08:45:45","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T08:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1558"},"modified":"2015-02-15T22:55:54","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T22:55:54","slug":"food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html","title":{"rendered":"Food for Thought: Good Input, Excellent Outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-624\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/350\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-246x300.jpg\" alt=\"Maureen Pratt Author Pic\" width=\"246\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>These days, I have often found the following Scripture verse coming to mind:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Do not conformyourself to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.&#8221; \u00a0Romans 12: 2<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s an excellent reading to remember at any time of year, but especially during Lent, when we take extra care to pray, meditate, and disengage our lives from at least some of the distractions swirling about us.<\/p>\n<p>But what I really focus on is the phrase &#8220;renewal of your mind,&#8221; and dicerning &#8220;what is good.&#8221; It&#8217;s really hard to think of the right path if you&#8217;re obsessed with the wrong one. And it&#8217;s nearly impossible to hear the Holy Spirit&#8217;s whisper if our ears, physical and spiritual, are filled with destructive noise.<\/p>\n<p>As Lent approaches, think of the good that you can bring into your life and heart. Focus on it having an excellent result &#8211; and excellent outlook &#8211; in the days and months to come. I sure will!<\/p>\n<p>Blessings,<\/p>\n<p>Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These days, I have often found the following Scripture verse coming to mind: &#8220;Do not conformyourself to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.&#8221; \u00a0Romans 12: 2 It&#8217;s an excellent reading to remember at&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1242,4,1047,578,1245,1236,95,1246],"tags":[1526,2122,1525,387,1523,1522,1435,1524],"class_list":["post-1558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-good","category-goodness","category-positive","category-prayer-2","category-prayers","category-uplifting","tag-a-positive-outlook","tag-goodness","tag-having-an-excellent-outlook","tag-lent","tag-lent-2015","tag-renewal-of-the-mind","tag-romans-12","tag-things-to-do-during-lent"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Food for Thought: Good Input, Excellent Outlook - 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\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food for Thought: Good Input, Excellent Outlook - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"These days, I have often found the following Scripture verse coming to mind: &#8220;Do not conformyourself to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.&#8221; \u00a0Romans 12: 2 It&#8217;s an excellent reading to remember at&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-16T08:45:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-15T22:55:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-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":"Food for Thought: Good Input, Excellent Outlook - 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\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Food for Thought: Good Input, Excellent Outlook - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"These days, I have often found the following Scripture verse coming to mind: &#8220;Do not conformyourself to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.&#8221; \u00a0Romans 12: 2 It&#8217;s an excellent reading to remember at&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2015-02-16T08:45:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-02-15T22:55:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-246x300.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html","name":"Food for Thought: Good Input, Excellent Outlook - 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\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-246x300.jpg","datePublished":"2015-02-16T08:45:45+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-15T22:55:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-246x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-246x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/food-for-thought-good-input-excellent-outlook.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Food for Thought: Good Input, Excellent Outlook"}]},{"@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 &amp; 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\/1558","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=1558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1559,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions\/1559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}