So yesterday I was processing some realizations about love, and when I’m processing what feels like a moment of clarity, my whole being vibrates with joy and I get so excited about sharing. But then usually there will pop up this little monster that asks, “Who do you think you are to speak like this?” And fear creeps in. Who do I think I am to ask questions, see patterns and perspectives, see what seems like light?

And as I said yesterday, fear turns into wondering if sharing is inviting pain and possibly death to my door.

Because I still believe that in some realm that we don’t understand there is warfare. And I believe that the enemy of love attacks people who are committed to growing in love. Not because we’re perfect, but because the light of love is transformative. That light shows that there is infinite space for all living things, infinite value in all living things. It banishes scarcity and its partner, greed. It eliminates the need for war. It invites peace. It uncovers the power that was being hidden by the shadow of fear.

And without fear, the enemy of love loses control of the slaves that they have been hoarding, as people recognize that they have long been declared free.

And yet I can’t hide the moments of clarity because that is neither integrity nor love. Leaving us in the dark because I am afraid is selfish. And I love you, all of us, too much to be constrained by fear.

I believe that even though I may experience pain, God will take my pain away. And from my pain more love seems to grow. I don’t enjoy the pain, but I have come to accept that it will be. And so I am sharing this summary of my recent thoughts and observations about why I value love and its role in our lives.

And more importantly who am I not to share?

My heart and mind are transformed from fear to openness in relationship. Everything that I have ever learned has been because of us, and this is no different.

It is so consistent across all relationships.

The characters in the stories may change, but the elements that lead to peace and reconciliation are always the same.

We only experience love when we allow grace and forgiveness to come together.

It seems that these two states are made up of similar parts with distinct differences, meant to relate interdependently to create love as a regenerative, creative, expansive, resilient, diverse state.

Grace can stand alone without forgiveness.

And forgiveness can stand alone without grace.

And it seems that the equation that produces love is something like this:

grace + forgiveness = love

It feels like supernatural math.

Like 1 + 1 = 3.

Grace opens the space.

Forgiveness releases what was held.

Grace says we still belong together, and no punishment is needed for that to be true.

Forgiveness says we don’t have to carry the pain or fear of being harmed anymore.

And when those two states meet and are joined together, something new appears.

Love.

Love isn’t only grace.

Love isn’t only forgiveness.

Love carries both of them and becomes more.

It is as if grace and forgiveness recognize and accept each other.

And when they come together, they create something larger than either one alone.

Love.

And love does something else.

It multiplies.

Grace makes space for forgiveness.

Forgiveness welcomes grace.

Together they create love.

And love begins to create a resilient, diverse community of belonging.

Belonging plus love creates peace.

Peace plus love and belonging creates freedom.

Freedom creates patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and more.

And suddenly the equation keeps expanding as more states that support resilience emerge.

Love creates a unified community. Love creates unity.

And unity does not erase difference.

Unity protects freedom.

Unity holds everyone inside belonging.

And when I look at that pattern, it starts to look familiar.

It starts to look like the mystery we see in God.

Father.

Son.

Spirit.

Different.

And yet the same.

Three.

And yet one.

Not competing.

Not controlling.

Not excluding.

Just existing in perfect relationship.

And when relationship is whole like that, something beautiful happens.

Love keeps multiplying.

Maybe this is what it means that humans are created in the image of God.

Beings unique and so similar.

Not to control each other.

Not to rank each other.

But to learn how to live inside that same kind of relationship.

Grace making space.

Forgiveness releasing harm.

Love multiplying belonging.

Peace holding it all together.

And because peace sits at the foundation of it all, it has remained very good.

Even when we forget.

Even when we fall back into the old patterns.

Grace is still there.

Forgiveness is still possible.

Love is still multiplying.

So perhaps the most important thing we can do is the simplest thing.

Trust the process.

Grace makes space.

Forgiveness releases what was held.

And when grace and forgiveness meet, love appears.

Grace + forgiveness = love.

And love keeps expanding.

Love creates belonging.

Belonging creates peace.

Peace creates freedom.

And freedom allows something beautiful to happen.

Difference no longer needs to compete or dominate to survive.

Difference becomes part of a resilient, living community.

Maybe this is part of what it means that humanity reflects the image of God, life that is generative, relational, and creative beyond anything we could fully imagine.

Perhaps every new life, every new person, every new expression of humanity is another glimpse of that mystery unfolding.

And maybe the point is not to compare forms of generativity at all.

The point is simply to recognize the wonder of it.

To recognize that life keeps creating new expressions of itself.

That diversity is not a threat to unity. It is part of its beauty.

Comparison is truly the thief of joy, and a waste of good energy.

Appreciating the diversity of all things, and being grateful that everything serves a purpose and has a place in the ecosystem of life, is what really matters.

Value the diversity.
Our ecosystem would not be so wonderfully complex and beautiful without it all.