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Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt

At some point during life with chronic illness, you feel like going back to the time “before.” Before your diagnosis. Before the disease or health condition took away so much of what you used to do and were. Maybe, at such times, you start going through boxes of old photos, crying over the thinner, smiling…

It’s so easy to dwell on the pain, illness, and constraints that a chronic health condition imposes on us. So very easy, too, to think of what’s falling apart, what abilities are becoming (or have become) disabilities. But, here I am, typing this. And here you are, reading this. Considering all that we’re going through…

Oh, no, you might be thinking. Isn’t she a week or so off? Didn’t Easter already happen? Is she calendar-challenged? Not at all! I know that April 20 was Easter Sunday. But the best Easter is today. And tomorrow. And the next day. The best Easter happens everyday when we remember that Jesus, God’s only Son,…

Oh, my but some people have low expectations of us. They think that because we’re sick or in pain, we have to go around looking like we feel. Or, they hesitate to include us in enjoyable activities or allow us to be part of church services, sometimes, because they think it will be “too much”…

Heavenly Father, the earth is Your creation, beautiful, vast, teeming with life, and constantly moving. We treasure this place, we are in awe of it, we find shelter here, and all that can sustain us. Help us, Lord, to know how best to care for Your earth. Give us guidance and wisdom so that we…

A hoarse voice from all that praiseful singing, a stray foil wrapper without the chocolate egg, hosiery with the beginning of a run, achy joints from wearing Sunday-best shoes a little too long… It’s Easter Monday, and we’ve celebrated the Resurrection with all our heart. What next? The build up to Easter is particularly emotional…

Well, praise the Lord in highest heaven, He is Risen! I hope you and your loved ones and church communities are enjoying a splendid Easter, with lots of love, light, and lilting music. Even if you think you have a tin ear and a leaden tongue, please join in the singing – we are called…

Many times during Holy Week, I think about the way and the weight of the cross that Jesus bore to Calvary. Not only was it a monstrous thing – heavy and cumbersome. But Our Lord had been beaten, scourged, starved, and was being forced to carry it despite his physical state. The weight of the…

Passover and Holy Week’s commemoration of the Last Supper make me think about how we prepare meals today, and how different it was in Jesus’ time. For one thing, the obvious: There were no drive-thrus or microwaves in Jesus’ day, and the need for a room, even an upper one, has been supplanted by “grab…

Lord, you are all great, all good, and I love you. But I am feeling pulled by cares, noise, and the ways of a worldly world. This week, of all times, please help me to center my thoughts and my heart in You. Bring me the quiet I need to hear your voice. Bring me…
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