Is It Worth the Pain?

    I've been thinking a lot lately, about love; it is a strange, scary, yet beautiful thing, and, like everything worthwile, comes with a price.
    The more you love someone, the more power you give to them; the more deeply they can hurt you; the more painful are their actions against you. Like, if some random person just came up to me and said, "I hate you and you're worth nothing," yeah, I'd be upset, but if one of my best friends or family members came up and said that? I'd be broken. You all know what I mean.

    Because of this, many people wonder if love is worth the pain... I must confess that I've been wondering that same thing. Those who mean the most to me have wounded me in ways I never would have imagined; how could it be safe for me to trust again? It isn't. It never was, and it never will be. Love is, in and of itself, a dangerous thing, because you open yourself up so widely to those around you. Yes, it would be "safer" to never truly love anyone, and to reject anyone who so much as accidentally coughs around you... to give up on humanity, saying that trying just isn't worth the price you pay.
    But you know what? If we did that, *we* would be the ones losing out on life, for what kind of life is a life without love? Love is passion in it's purest form, and without passion... life is nothing. Jesus came to earth and died in the place of sinners, just because of love. Could we do no less, we who are called by His Name?
    Love is not something to fear.... because "perfect love casts out fear." (1 John 4:18) If I am fearful of loving someone, then I do not truly love that person. As hard as that is for me to hear, I take it as a challenge: to love those around me without reserve, and without any fear of being hurt.

    I have been hurt, I am hurting, and I will be hurt again by those that I love. But you know what? That's okay. I want to live with a love that has no fear of being hurt - a  love that is unconditional. For a love that can change lives, pain is but a small price to pay, and I will gladly pay it.