To love is one of the easiest—and hardest—things to do.
 

This blog will likely upset some people, both those who are religious and those who are not. I want to be clear: everything I’m sharing is based on my personal experience. I’m not claiming this is how everyone was raised or how everyone thinks—this is simply what I’ve observed in my own life.
 

Growing up in a Christian household, we were always taught about God’s love and how the greatest commandment is to love others as we love ourselves. Simple as that.
 

Over the years, though, that simple teaching began to shift. It started to feel less like love and more like:

Love others, but only if…

Only if they’re willing to change.
Only if they’re like-minded.
Only if they’re willing to accept God as their saviour.
Only if they don’t make you uncomfortable.
Only if they’re straight.
 

It was that last one that made me realize the teachings I was receiving no longer aligned with the God I believed in.

God very clearly tells us to love—no hidden meaning, no fine print. Just love.
 

And if I choose to believe that, then I also choose to believe that we are made in His (our) likeness (Genesis 1:26), that the one without sin should cast the first stone (John 8:7), and that we are commanded not to judge.
(Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37).
 

That doesn’t mean love comes without hurt or heartbreak—those are often part of it.
 

I’ve shared these thoughts with others, and more often than not, the people who tell me I need to “learn more”, as my thoughts are dangerous, are pastors. Yet I have never felt more secure or closer to God than I do at this point
in my life.
 

That’s not to say I don’t stumble—of course I do. I’m human. None of us is perfect, no matter how hard we try. That’s not what being human is about.
 

There is already enough chaos and hate in this world. We don’t need to add to it. It takes energy to hate, and it takes energy to love. Only you can decide what you want to spend your energy on.
 

For me, I choose to love.