.
We can't change anyone, or anything else. All we can change is our responses to them. All we can change... IS US!
But in changing... OURSELF
We become an example to others, of what is possible, of what love is, of what it can do. And the suffering is ALWAYS worth it, when see another's heart and life change, because of LOVE.
There is nothing worse, than suffering WITHOUT CAUSE.
When we understand that suffering is not USELESS, or WITHOUT CAUSE, then it helps us get through the most difficult times, because it provides what we were hoping existed... a purpose... a reason... for the suffering. We already know what we are LOSING when we suffer... but when we also begin to realize what is GAINED from suffering, that good can result, that growth can occur, that there "IS" an ultimate plan and purpose to it all... then we can become less bitter, less angry, and find the hope and courage to become MORE GRATEFUL (even for suffering) and MORE LOVING and MORE BEAUTIFUL as a person.
Just two days ago, I had a profound realization that God gave me.
It is not really something "new" but the understanding of it, and the reasoning behind it, was NEW... at least to me.
If anyone has bothered reading some of my previous philosophical and religious points, then you will recall, that I once said that EVERYONE (every religion, every philosophy) almost to a man, has SOME of the truth. All these various religions and philosophical positions... they all have PIECES of the truth. ALL OF THEM. But none of them have ALL of the truth, and so they NEED one another... they can LEARN and BENEFIT from one another.
This truth came home to me yet again, just the other day.
There are those who believe in pantheism. Pantheism is the belief that EVERYTHING is God. The Universe and everything in it, is God. So that a tree is God, animals are God, to take it to a ridiculous extreme... dog poop is God then, for that matter. New agists love pantheistic thinking, whereas many people probably do not. Especially if they consider God as being dog poop.
But...
Again... they are right, to a degree. There is SOME truth in this understanding, and God has clarified it for me, to show me the correct understanding of what that truth is.
AND THIS, MY FRIEND... IS THE PART THAT WILL HELP.... YOU 
Pantheists are WRONG about believing that the universe, and physical matter is God himself. But because God CREATED the universe out of his love, out of his own energy... then "IT IS" related to God... It is a PART of God's energy, and God is it's origin and sustainer. And being a CREATION of God, as we are, then the universe RESEMBLES God, in a similar way that WE are created IN THE IMAGE of God.
And the profound part is this...
God created the universe FROM LOVE. The energy of Love. Just as He created US from that same Love. And so... like us, the universe RESPONDS to love. It is DESIGNED in fact, to do so. It is NATURAL that the universe would respond to love, since it's make up was derived from LOVE itself.
Plants are not people, so they do not have souls, as we do. They are tangible physical matter. But because they are a part of CREATION, and were created by LOVE. They respond to love! This is why studies have shown (and we all have heard of this) that plants do better when they are talked to on a regular basis. Why would talking to a plant make it grow fuller and healthier? Because when we SPEND TIME with the plant, and are FOCUSED on the plant, with GOOD INTENTIONS TOWARD the plant. We are IN FACT, expressing LOVE toward the plant.
And guess what...
THE PLANT IS RESPONDING TO IT!!!!!!!
And what God showed me, is that
ALL OF NATURE does. And not only nature, as in animals, but physical matter even as finances or treasure, or hearts and minds of other people, or societies and governments, or ANYTHING!!!!
When we LOVE THE UNIVERSE (or the universe around us)...
THE UNIVERSE LOVES US BACK!!!!
It is designed to respond favorably to love... AND IT DOES!!!
And if you recall, I had previously discussed how
GOD IS LOVE.
The Bible states this emphatically.
And it is true, but more true than anyone realizes.
GOD "IS" LOVE ITSELF!!!!
Just as physically, we are flesh and bones and veins and blood, and all the other things that COMPOSE our PHYSICAL MAKE-UP.
God's make-up is LOVE.
He is LOVE ITSELF.
And so, when we LOVE one another... we are SHARING GOD. Not the "emotion" of love. But Love itself... GOD HIMSELF.
When we LOVE one another... we are sharing GOD with one another.
And the very reason the universe is RESPONDING to "OUR" love, is just that. It is NOT "our love", but God's love.... God Himself. Because God "IS" love.
So, the universe is responding to love, because love is God. The universe is literally responding to GOD. The God that is in us... "when" we love, and share that "love"... when we share "God" with others... or even with seemingly PHYSICAL MATTER.
The universe is responding to us, because it is feeling God!
So Alan,
The long, but hopefully meaningful "WORDS" are...
LOVE THE UNIVERSE AROUND YOU.
IT WILL LOVE YOU BACK!
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Romans 8:18-22
18
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
19
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
20
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
21
that[a] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
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