What if obstacles are gifts,
difficulties opportunities
griefs invitations to growth?
All sourced in gentle compassion and affection?
What if the first clothes were a kindness, not a cover for shame?
An acceptance of distance chosen, not a barrier to closeness?
What if expulsion was not punishment but protection?
Sending forth an avenue for later return, not banishment?
What if the first rejected offering was invitation, not punishment?
A reminder of necessities, not a judgement of personalities?
What if an apparent rebuke was a gentle statement of fact?
An invitation to intimacy, rather than a scolding?
What if love allows the beloved to have his or her way
even to choosing hell?
What if love so loves and respects the other
that it never forces unwanted intimacy?
even for the other’s best?
What if requested obedience is not for the obeyed
but for the blessing of the obeyee?
What if walking away is a gift, not a rejection?
gentle distance an invitation, rather than a final separation?
What if the relentless pursuer relents
so the pursued may pursue?
What if it is not holiness that cannot abide sin
but sin that cannot abide holiness?
What if….?