{"id":785,"date":"2013-08-18T09:08:22","date_gmt":"2013-08-18T09:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=785"},"modified":"2013-08-13T22:27:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T22:27:00","slug":"supersizing-our-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/08\/supersizing-our-lives.html","title":{"rendered":"Supersizing Our Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of dan\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On a walk recently, I passed by a recently-renovated neighorhood fast food restaurant. Emblazoned on the roof was a banner that invited all to try “our double drive-thru!”<\/p>\n

A “double drive-thru?” Hmm… Do we order in two parts? Order side-by-side with another car? Do we\u00a0 automatically get a double order with that? Or, is this one of those cosmic hints that we see in our world that sparks thoughts beyond what we would usually think, especially on a routine walk around the neighborhood. What if, I thought…<\/p>\n

What if…<\/p>\n

What if we applied the concept of “supersizing” beyond things alimentary?<\/p>\n

What if we took the best attributes of ourselves, the best things in our lives, and supersized them?<\/p>\n

How about supersizing our activities – the exercise we do, the good deeds we engage in? Or, what about supersizing our friendships so that we spend even more time with people we love and, naturally, fold more wonderful relationships into our days?<\/p>\n

How much farther along our spiritual journeys would we be if we supersized our prayer lives? Scripture reading? Worship and fellowship? How many more needy people could benefit from our bounty if we supersized our giving – time, possessions, money?<\/p>\n

What if we supersized our smiles? Laughter? Hugs? Compassion?<\/p>\n

Oh, wow…what if we supersized our kindness?<\/p>\n

You just never know what God will put in your path when you walk outside your front door. But if you remain open to looking and listening, well, as I found, even a fast-food restaurant can yield some supersized ideas that just keep on getting bigger!<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

On a walk recently, I passed by a recently-renovated neighorhood fast food restaurant. Emblazoned on the roof was a banner that invited all to try “our double drive-thru!” A “double drive-thru?” Hmm… Do we order in two parts? Order side-by-side with another car? Do we\u00a0 automatically get a double order with that? Or, is this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,4],"tags":[153,5,236,367,47,679,678,96,90,426,475,677,680],"class_list":["post-785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","tag-compassion","tag-eating","tag-fellowship","tag-friendship","tag-god","tag-growing-spiritually","tag-kindness","tag-prayer","tag-scripture","tag-spiritual-growth","tag-spirituality","tag-supersizing","tag-worship"],"yoast_head":"\nSupersizing Our Lives - 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\/08\/supersizing-our-lives.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supersizing Our Lives - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On a walk recently, I passed by a recently-renovated neighorhood fast food restaurant. 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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\/785","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=785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":786,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions\/786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}