Can Love Be Trusted?

Continued from yesterday…

Whenever you use the word love, you risk stepping on all kinds of landmines. Loaded with assumptions, expectations, and traditions, love is not easily defined because it means different things to different people at different times in their lives.

For many, love refers to the babe you married (until she wants to get divorced), the baby you gave birth to (until he grows up and slams the door in your face, telling you he hates you), the steakhouse down the road (until you become a vegan), or the dream job you worked hard to get (until you can’t stand it because it runs your life). So what conclusion can we come to other than: love is complicated?

Love goes hand-in-hand with painful rejection. The man of your dreams tells you he loves you, and that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you, then goes out and cheats on you—with your best friend. When he gets caught, he returns to say, “I’m so sorry, baby. I love you, and it will never happen again.”

Maybe the rejection comes from your dad. You know—the man who told you he loves you, and that you are the most important person in the world, but then forgot to show up to your dance recitals, and never got you a bike that one Christmas, even though he promised over and over again that he would.

With all the pain we associate with love, it seems as though love cannot really be trusted. But if you can’t trust love, what can you trust?

To be continued tomorrow…

Adapted from Section 1 of Awakening To I Am Love by David Youngren