{"id":601,"date":"2013-04-02T22:33:10","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T22:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=601"},"modified":"2013-04-02T21:09:03","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T21:09:03","slug":"chronic-pain-easter-bunnies-and-everyday-rabbits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/04\/chronic-pain-easter-bunnies-and-everyday-rabbits.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Pain: Easter Bunnies and Everyday Rabbits"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Image courtesy of piyato\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I still enjoy the glow from a very good Easter. Good liturgies, good lessons, good weather, good fellowship, good food. Yup, it was all good. And it has truly put a smile in my heart, even two days removed from the holy day itself. Much like a soft and cuddly Easter bunny, this warm joy is a wonderful thing. But, as we all know, the concentration of faith, praise, and joy doesn’t necessarily accompany our lives every moment of every day unfolding after Easter Sunday. Nope.\u00a0 Easter bunnies rather quickly become everyday rabbits, and joy is challenged by, well, LIFE.<\/p>\n

As “life happens,” meaning we face bumps, potholes, or even craters along our Easter Sunday-inspired good mood, we’re bound to come under some stress. Even if you’re housebound, none of us lives in a bubble. Already today, I’ve been faced with a couple of situations that have required me to drop my project at hand and take care of them. These unexpected and unpleasant detours remind me that “the way is not easy,” no matter how much grace and praise I stocked up on over the past weekend. They also give me opportunities to work at protecting the precious gift of peace that grew every more deep along the Triduum. They help me to strengthen and grow while still expressing and appreciating the warmth of the joy that still resides deep within. They also remind me that, Easter joy, as with Easter bunnies, need not lose its power to move hearts just because it exists in the everyday, grown up world.<\/p>\n

Although the coming days will be rife with\u00a0LIFE, that is, responsibilities and trials and potholes, they will also be opportunities to\u00a0nurture and expand our joy through further Scripture reading, fellowship, and openness to God’s voice and work within our hearts. Thus, making every day\u00a0 echo with Easter song.<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n

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

I still enjoy the glow from a very good Easter. Good liturgies, good lessons, good weather, good fellowship, good food. Yup, it was all good. And it has truly put a smile in my heart, even two days removed from the holy day itself. Much like a soft and cuddly Easter bunny, this warm joy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4],"tags":[119,44,478,45,265,493,325,30],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","tag-challenges","tag-chronic-pain","tag-easter","tag-faith","tag-joy","tag-learning","tag-life","tag-pain"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Pain: Easter Bunnies and Everyday Rabbits - 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\/2013\/04\/chronic-pain-easter-bunnies-and-everyday-rabbits.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Pain: Easter Bunnies and Everyday Rabbits - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I still enjoy the glow from a very good Easter. 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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\/601","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=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":608,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions\/608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}