{"id":1965,"date":"2016-02-11T19:20:22","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T19:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1965"},"modified":"2016-02-06T19:35:36","modified_gmt":"2016-02-06T19:35:36","slug":"lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html","title":{"rendered":"Lent and Food: Giving Up, Adding On"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of Marcus\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I do not know anyone who does not like to eat. And, along with the physical activity of chowing down, we all have our favorite foods. \u00a0During Lent, some will give up a favorite or two, as a way of sacrificing something to draw deeper into the season. A priest once encouraged me not to “give up,” but to “add” something instead – an act of charity, an extra hour or two in prayer. Something positive. Something profound.<\/p>\n

This year, I’m going to add something to my meals. No, not an extra helping! \ud83d\ude42 Rather, I’m going to add an extra prayer for those whose hands helped bring the food to the table. I don’t know their names, but I know their work – and it is good. I don’t see them in the fields or behind the plows, but I know that they are making good use of their time – and I appreciate it. I cannot thank them all in person, although I would like to – so, I pray for them and their families.<\/p>\n

With the election cycle heating up, and much of the news focused on more rural parts of the country, I have heard more than one disparaging remark about “rural people,” and especially farmers. For some reason, there are some people who think little of the those\u00a0who till the land and harvest the crops. As if knowing how to farm and doing it well were not a skill requiring attention, patience, knowledge, and physical stamina (which it does). Ironically, the same people who would think less of a farmer than someone in urban areas would never want to give up eating! \u00a0Oh, dear…<\/p>\n

Adding to my prayers,\u00a0\u00a0I’ll also lift up\u00a0those people who talk down about farmers and farming. May they have an opportunity sometime to dig in the dirt and come away more appreciative of the dedication and work of those who give us the food on our tables!<\/p>\n

Joy and peace,<\/p>\n

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

I do not know anyone who does not like to eat. And, along with the physical activity of chowing down, we all have our favorite foods. \u00a0During Lent, some will give up a favorite or two, as a way of sacrificing something to draw deeper into the season. A priest once encouraged me not to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1272,43,1242,4,1047,578,1236,95],"tags":[2031,2032,2030,2034,2033],"class_list":["post-1965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-praying-spirit-prayer-2","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-good","category-goodness","category-prayer-2","category-prayers","tag-giving-up-and-adding-something-for-lent","tag-giving-up-something-for-lent","tag-lent-and-food","tag-prayers-for-farmers","tag-prayers-for-lent"],"yoast_head":"\nLent and Food: Giving Up, Adding On - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What I'll be adding this Lent\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lent and Food: Giving Up, Adding On - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What I'll be adding this Lent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-11T19:20:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-06T19:35:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/08\/Harvest-by-Marcus-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lent and Food: Giving Up, Adding On - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"What I'll be adding this Lent","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lent and Food: Giving Up, Adding On - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"What I'll be adding this Lent","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2016-02-11T19:20:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-06T19:35:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/08\/Harvest-by-Marcus-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html","name":"Lent and Food: Giving Up, Adding On - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/08\/Harvest-by-Marcus-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2016-02-11T19:20:22+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-06T19:35:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"description":"What I'll be adding this Lent","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/08\/Harvest-by-Marcus-300x200.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/08\/Harvest-by-Marcus-300x200.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/lent-and-food-giving-up-adding-on.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lent and Food: Giving Up, Adding On"}]},{"@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\/1965","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=1965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1966,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965\/revisions\/1966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}