{"id":1786,"date":"2015-08-25T19:23:11","date_gmt":"2015-08-25T19:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1786"},"modified":"2015-08-09T19:34:59","modified_gmt":"2015-08-09T19:34:59","slug":"chronic-illness-do-you-wonder-and-why-it-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/08\/chronic-illness-do-you-wonder-and-why-it-matters.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Do You Wonder? And, Why It Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The clouds in the sky. A flash of lightning. A baby&#8217;s giggle. A &#8220;common&#8221; cold.<\/p>\n<p>When you see or hear these things, do you disect them scientifically? Or, do you wonder?<\/p>\n<p>What are the things in your life that you try to analyze?<\/p>\n<p>What are the things that you lift up to God, pondering whether or what the meaning of it all might be?<\/p>\n<p>Although we life in a time and with health conditions that can often be at least partically explained in terms of genes and cells and chemical reactions, there is still much in life that cannot be scientifically explained. Lupus, for example, still defies exact description, although some might say, erroneously, that they have it all figured out!<\/p>\n<p>With much still unexplained, instead of fretting over, &#8220;When will they know?&#8221; or &#8220;Will I live long enough to see a cure?&#8221; I prefer to go to the Source of it all. I prefer to lift my wondering eyes up to God. In doing so, I find any stress over &#8220;no cure yet&#8221; evaporates, and in its place is the knowledge and comfort that, no matter what might be in the future, I, body and soul, will be all right because I&#8217;m in God&#8217;s hands.<\/p>\n<p>I also lift the same kind of wonder and appreciation up when I see that jagged flash of light, or take time to feel the breeze on my face. I don&#8217;t have to know the currents and the chemicals, the reactions and the equations. I merely appreciate the nature around me &#8211; and that is enough. And, I try, too, not to insist on &#8220;figuring out&#8221; my friends and family, but just rest in their presence and enjoy and love them for who they are.<\/p>\n<p>If we insist on scientifically disecting everything in our world and lives, we run the risk of missing the point of them, the majesty, the beauty, and our own place, which is to appreciate, give thanks, and care about and for the unfolding wonders.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, it matters if we wonder! If we don&#8217;t, we&#8217;re truly missing out!<\/p>\n<p>Peace,<\/p>\n<p>Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The clouds in the sky. A flash of lightning. A baby&#8217;s giggle. A &#8220;common&#8221; cold. When you see or hear these things, do you disect them scientifically? Or, do you wonder? What are the things in your life that you try to analyze? What are the things that you lift up to God, pondering whether&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,360,43,1242,4,1047,578,379,1420,1245,1236,1246],"tags":[1702,1888,29,38,1886,1887],"class_list":["post-1786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-good","category-goodness","category-lupus-2","category-pain-2","category-positive","category-prayer-2","category-uplifting","tag-appreciating-our-lives","tag-being-cured","tag-chronic-illness","tag-gods-world","tag-positive-side-of-chronic-illness","tag-stewardship-for-the-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chronic Illness: Do You Wonder? And, Why It Matters - 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\/08\/chronic-illness-do-you-wonder-and-why-it-matters.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Do You Wonder? And, Why It Matters - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The clouds in the sky. A flash of lightning. A baby&#8217;s giggle. A &#8220;common&#8221; cold. When you see or hear these things, do you disect them scientifically? Or, do you wonder? What are the things in your life that you try to analyze? 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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\/1786","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=1786"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786\/revisions\/1788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}