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Okay - not Mark anymore -- just me as the last holdout who cannot comment correctly - sorry!

These verses you mention make sense to me on a gut-level. There have been times in my life, and people in my life, who have dragged me away from what I know to be true. Decades later, I can label the phenomenon as "lack of self-differentiation" - but at the time, I all I knew was that I was getting sucked into someone else's grief/pain/struggle and losing touch with my own sense of self.

We are all changed by the people in our lives. Sometimes it is through intentional commitments (marriage, for example). And sometimes it happens over years of relationship. On the plus side, this means we can show others Christ. On the negative side, it means that we need to be careful who we surround ourselves with.

These thoughts are also on my mind a great deal as I send my daughter into the world increasingly on her own. How will she change those around her, and how will they change her? And where do we draw those lines that are necessary between our children and the dangers in their world?