tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18568699.post3989042440012363928..comments2024-03-20T06:08:51.320-04:00Comments on roosje: {little rose}: questionselizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00962587884124992942noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18568699.post-24228400089103399092007-07-19T18:16:00.000-04:002007-07-19T18:16:00.000-04:00thank you marco. i read your comment this morning ...thank you marco. i read your comment this morning before work and really appreciate it. <BR/><BR/>i have been thinking this too - in the terms of the question: <BR/><BR/>what if i sought to receive all things with joy and to enjoy? <BR/><BR/>it is going to take me a long time to sort all of this out - today i am working on just being thankful. <BR/><BR/>on that note - thanks again muchly for your commentelizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00962587884124992942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18568699.post-81911500585102769832007-07-19T03:38:00.000-04:002007-07-19T03:38:00.000-04:00no idea. I struggle with these questions as well ...no idea. I struggle with these questions as well (OK, not the ones about being female and North American, but you know what I mean...)<BR/><BR/>Here's a weird personal experience though: I tried from childhood on to remain detached from earthly things -- idle talk, material possessions, and the sort of stuff you talk about in this post -- but I started noticing in my teens that there was not much joy in my life. Spiritual joy, the fruit of the Spirit kind of joy.<BR/><BR/>It wasn't until much later that I suspected a connection between the two. If I hold out for some moment of "pure contemplation" and allow myself to rejoice in that, and only that, viewing all other pleasures as guilty ones, then I should not wonder that I live a joyless life and even start resenting God.<BR/><BR/>Or, to put it differently: how can I trade all I have for the costliest pearl if I haven't allowed myself to amass anything? What do I have in my possession to bargain with? <BR/><BR/>I still have a long way to go on this journey. I'm not replying because I have an answer to your questions, but because I'm another person who doesn't have answers to these questions.Marcohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07277900758216904187noreply@blogger.com