Followthrougher - I love that word!!! :) (and I love English because one can create words easily)

Nothing counts and nothing makes sense without Him, indeed.

Thanks, Joanne :)

Amazing and incredibly comforting that He never changes.

Thanks, Mary!

To be completely honest, I have a love/hate relationship with ruts. I know they are bad, but DANG they are comfortable sometimes! However, yes - I agree - when routine pressures me into something, it\'s no fun...

Thanks for the thoughts, Bill!

Heh, Einstein was right.

What is this world coming to? The end, methinks.

RE: Facebook - we are friends on Facebook :D

We should not avoid secular just for the sake of being secular. We should avoiod the things that may harm our relationship with God or with each other. - YES, YES, and YES! Thank you, Cris :)

My \"philosophy\" is that if God created this world, even in its current state, it is still full of lessons about God and from God. You only have to pay attention to the little things - because often, like with Elijah, God is not in the roaring thunder or fierce storm, but in a gentle whisper of wind. We often expect big things and miracles from Him and don\'t notice small lessons He\'s teaching us.

:) I was writing the post and realized that your way of stating important stuff would really fit well here :D (Forgot to add the hyperlink to your name in the post, tho... Will change that.)

You know, I can even sort of \"understand\" investing in drugs - it does bring profit (albeit all the negative part along with that profit)... But investing into a financial pyramid that already collapsed once and isn\'t offering a new scheme now? Simply dumb.

I can\'t say I am philosophy-oriented, but I do like to understand and analyze the way people behave / think. And yes - it can drive one nuts :D

Thanks for stopping by, Joanne! :)

Our lives are all about balance. We cannot love others without loving God and without loving ourselves (the last one is odd, but Jesus said \"love your neighbor as yourself\" ergo it\'s impossible to try to take care of the people around you without knowing what love feels like)... Therefore, in order to be able to serve others, we should serve God and serve ourselves - which means taking care of our own spiritual life, not just trying to help those close to us.

Carefully and forcefully - yes.

Yes - it\'s all too easy to forget what it\'s like to be on a \"lower ground\" so to speak and disregard those people whom we are called to serve.

Hmm... I wonder... In God\'s kingdom, Higher Ground - is it really higher or lower? Jesus said that the one who is humbling himself / herself will be exalted...

We meet people where they are and are fully present to them without a sense of duality. - exactly!