{"id":938,"date":"2013-12-01T14:38:07","date_gmt":"2013-12-01T14:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=938"},"modified":"2013-11-29T20:52:34","modified_gmt":"2013-11-29T20:52:34","slug":"a-different-kind-of-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/12\/a-different-kind-of-advent.html","title":{"rendered":"A Different Kind of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of nuchylee\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prepare the way! Advent is here – four weeks of waiting and watching and listening…and doing all manner of things to get ready for Christmas. \u00a0Because Advent comes every year, we’ve probably memorized all of the Scripture readings, song lyrics, and steps to making a beautiful Advent wreath or food basket. \u00a0About now, we rummage through recipe boxes and websites to find the traditional recipes we make each year.<\/p>\n

Yes, there is much familiar about this Season – and wonderfully so, when it comes to family and other traditions that we cherish and want to pass along to loved ones.<\/p>\n

But, ideally, Advent is also a season of spiritual development, a time when we reach a deeper understanding of God’s presence in our lives and the import of the Gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Yes, ideally, come December 25, we should be noticeably different from the people we were today, as Advent dawned.<\/p>\n

Far from the “same old, same old,” Advent is, at its very core, a time to reach for newness, to add something significant to our spiritual selves, and to embark on an adventure of prayer, reflection, reaching out, and looking in that leads us to places of the spirit and of life that we never could have imagined without Our Lord’s guidance.<\/p>\n

Where this Advent will lead each of us is for God to know and us, individually, to discover. But if we keep our focus on this Season of light, love, and preparation, we will be able to move through each day guided by His hand and inspired by His heart – a heart that knows us each by name and has bestowed upon each of us wonderful gifts just ready for the discovering.<\/p>\n

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

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

Prepare the way! Advent is here – four weeks of waiting and watching and listening…and doing all manner of things to get ready for Christmas. \u00a0Because Advent comes every year, we’ve probably memorized all of the Scripture readings, song lyrics, and steps to making a beautiful Advent wreath or food basket. \u00a0About now, we rummage…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241,3,43,4],"tags":[225,825,826,226],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","tag-advent","tag-preparation-for-christmas","tag-spiritual-development-at-advent","tag-waiting"],"yoast_head":"\nA Different Kind of Advent - 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\/12\/a-different-kind-of-advent.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Different Kind of Advent - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prepare the way! Advent is here – four weeks of waiting and watching and listening…and doing all manner of things to get ready for Christmas. \u00a0Because Advent comes every year, we’ve probably memorized all of the Scripture readings, song lyrics, and steps to making a beautiful Advent wreath or food basket. \u00a0About now, we rummage…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/12\/a-different-kind-of-advent.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-01T14:38:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-11-29T20:52:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/candle-photo-by-nuchylee-199x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Different Kind of Advent - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/12\/a-different-kind-of-advent.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Different Kind of Advent - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"Prepare the way! 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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\/938","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=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":939,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}