Consider the difference between the way a year feels to a 5-year-old and the way a 40-year-old experiences a year.
A lot of the way we assume things are is relative to our experience of the world.
There is a lot of talk in the church about absolutes vs. relative ethics. Where this gets tricky is that the person championing absolutes is doing it from their own relative perspective. Which would be completely fine if all of the opinions lined up, but there is discrepancy in the absolutes being championed from denomination to denomination....and beyond that from teacher to teacher.
It occurs to me that true absolutes are universally experienced. Like the absolute of love, or courage, or joy, or peace. Guilt, or shame, or anger. There are things that are common to the human experience that transcend culture, language, age and gender.
In all experiences--most clearly reflected in the stories we tell--love is transformative. And the fruit of the Spirit is powerful no matter who you encounter.
It is an uncomfortable absolute that arguing that you are right is easy. Loving someone you disagree with is infinitely hard.
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