Coming to Terms: 1

Girl, why are you crying?
How do you want God to interact with the world?
Is that right/fair?
Do you believe in faith?

Does one lose the ability to think abstractly as one advances in years? Or does one gain it? I have always loved the concrete. I like for things to be spelled out and clear cut. Prevarication gets on my nerves; so do empty polite phrases or intensely idea-focused conversations. When an example crops up, I perk up and listen. When I have trouble thinking about something, I try to put it into some kind of real-life situation. Practicality and straight-forward bluntness would be my middle-names, if they weren't too long. I don't generally like poetry because it is too condensed, and I can't tell what it says right off the bat, I have to look at it from a cajillion different angles and imagine what it might mean. But I'm starting to fear that these tendencies may be working to my disadvantage- or at least making my mental life more strenuous than those of others.
Abstract ideas are just so fuzzy to me. They don't make sense unless they're put into a situation; otherwise they confuse me and I don't know how to think anymore.
That's just not who I thought I was, you know? So often I've been hailed as smart. So often people have praised my contributions to discussion, my need to keep us honest and grounded; they say it makes them think harder & deeper.
But really all that's going on is I'm so practical I can't follow the discussion otherwise. Turns out this sage is ought but a fool with a big vocabulary. (side question: so is it praise or pity? do they realize?)

How then can I approach this question: do I think there is value in faith?
It's too elusive for me to pin it down and hash it out with myself...
but I will. This isn't over yet.