{"id":1616,"date":"2015-04-05T01:13:32","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T01:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1616"},"modified":"2015-03-29T19:22:11","modified_gmt":"2015-03-29T19:22:11","slug":"let-it-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/04\/let-it-out.html","title":{"rendered":"Let It Out!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy of Serge Bertasius Photography\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Happy Easter! He Is Risen! Alleluia!<\/p>\n

Today, we meet in church and at home with friends and family, our faith communities, and we celebrate the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord! This is truly my favorite holy-day, and not only because it is so filled with joy, from music to decorations to the hints of spring that fill the air and sky.<\/p>\n

Today is my favorite because it is all right – no, more than all right, it is good and just to express joy all round, to let out the light and love we have in our hearts and lift a hearty “We believe” to the heavens and earth.<\/p>\n

Think about it, sometimes on other days, we might be less courageous to share our joy with others. We might be afraid to look too happy (“Is she nuts?”) or worried we will offend (“What will they think if I greet them too warmly”). But today, we have no excuse to hold back. And as we feel how wonderful it is to let our joy out into the world, I hope that for the rest of this year, moreso than in year’s past, we will continue to pour forth all manner of positive emotions and feelings into our troubled world.<\/p>\n

Yes, let’s start today and continue on – let’s let our joy out and watch how it moves heaven, earth, and hearts more squarely into light and love!<\/p>\n

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

Happy Easter! He Is Risen! Alleluia! Today, we meet in church and at home with friends and family, our faith communities, and we celebrate the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord! This is truly my favorite holy-day, and not only because it is so filled with joy, from music to decorations to the hints of spring…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,1047,578,1245,1246],"tags":[1631,1634,478,1630,265,1633,123,56,1632],"class_list":["post-1616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-good","category-goodness","category-positive","category-uplifting","tag-being-joy-filled","tag-bringing-joy-to-the-world","tag-easter","tag-expressing-joy","tag-joy","tag-letting-our-joy-out","tag-light","tag-love","tag-sharing-love"],"yoast_head":"\nLet It Out! - 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\/04\/let-it-out.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let It Out! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Happy Easter! He Is Risen! Alleluia! Today, we meet in church and at home with friends and family, our faith communities, and we celebrate the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord! 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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\/1616","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=1616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1617,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1616\/revisions\/1617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}