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Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt

Is your prayer time over before you know it? Gone through the list and all finished? Sometimes, we get into a routine (yes, routines can be good, but…) and over time, our prayer life can become a bit too easy. If you find that you’re just naming names and moving on, or rushing through the…

Lately, my pain experience has been much like playing that arcade game where you hold a hammer and wait for a thing – sometimes an artificial mole, sometimes something else – to pop up from one of the many holes on the game playing board. When you see the “thing,” you’re supposed to hit it…

“I’ll go to the gym instead of taking a nap – I’ll feel more energy afterward.” “I’ll get this report done before I call a friend; I’ll have time later.” “I take this easier class instead of the hard one; I’ll get less credit, but I won’t have to work as much.” Each day, we…

When I was a youngster, I used to be really mad that people in church seemed to rush through the prayers. “They’re going too fast,” I used to tell my mother. “They should slow down.” As I developed my own prayer life, I realized that there were times when I’d pray quickly, too. Perhaps I…

I noticed that the cashier at a store where I shop was wearing a red dress ribbon, for heart health. I commented on it, and she said, “Oh, yes, we had a promotion for cancer awhile ago. I like the ribbon.” “Isn’t the red dress for heart health?” I asked. The cashier thought about it…

Wait! Wait! I’ve got it…uh…it’s…I’ve got it…Oh, no I don’t! If you have an illness where there is a component of brain fog (as with lupus and many other autoimmune illnesses), you’ve probably had the experience of trying to remember the words or melody to a song and come up short. We all have favorite…

We do it every day, although much of the time we probably don’t even think about it consciously. Yet, we compete – against against traffic, against fellow shoppers, against the clock, against the world. Even, sometimes, against ourselves (for example, can we go even one more rep in the gym, or fit in one more…

I’ve lived and traveled abroad, and one of the things that always made me laugh was when someone would try to communicate with someone else who did not speak his or her language. Instead of trying to use sign language or find an interpreter, often the person trying to communicate would just use the same…

It happened again! I went to a restaurant and the server asked me how I kept my complexion so clear. “You have great skin,” she said. “What’s the secret?” Ah! I love that question. Not out of some kind of vanity, but because I can use it as an occasion to educate and, perhaps, make…

If you find it difficult to prioritize responsibilities and activities while juggling the effects of life with chronic pain and illness, you’re not alone. I do, too, and sometimes I feel akin to a circus act – wondering if I’ll drop anything of importance while managing so many moving parts, especially when it comes to…
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