Can we love unconditionally?

Last week, I was reading “The Shack” by Wm. Paul Young. It’s an engaging spiritual journey of a man who experienced terrible tragedy, then had a chance to find God in the midst of his pain and suffering. The book talks a great deal about God’s unconditional love for humankind. Well and good. God is, after all, divine, right?

But on a human level, the issue of unconditional love seems rather elusive, even for people of faith. Can we really accept even the significant people in our lives without qualification in a culture that insists that we should derive an “economic” benefit from every relationship?

Loving another person unconditionally requires a great deal of vulnerability and transparency. It involves opening ourselves to another person knowing full well that we could be hurt. The risks are high even for people in romantic relationships and therefore, few of us are willing to engage in this type of deep commitment to another person.

Perhaps the closest we can come to unconditional love and acceptance is to realize that, as we change and grow together, the expectations and outcomes we have for each other must also change. It's the building together and growing together and being together that cause two people to come as close as possible to accepting each other without qualification. And, we are likely never to do that perfectly on this side of eternity.