It is high anniversary season for me – which means that I am right smack in between all of the different death dates for those who are closest to me. This includes all three of my parents (father, mother, dad/step-dad), my mother-in-law, and my husband. All five of these dates fall between early September and Christmas Eve.

This has me thinking carefully about not only how short life is, but also about what really matters.

And unlike many people my age (I will turn forty-one in a few weeks, for the record), I tend to have a much lower tolerance for much of the nonsense that life tends to try and dish out. Or should I say, what we humans tend to throw at one another.

This includes, but is not limited to what we pawn off as “opinions” about one another very humanity and rights. For example, that two adults who may share the same gender should not be able to love and/or marry one another. Or perhaps that a person with a particular skin tone or heritage should not have as much access to certain jobs or areas to live in. Or maybe that someone who says that they were made differently – well, they must either be non-existent (i.e. making that experience up) or must be downright insane.

What’s even more fun is when people back up any and all of these “opinions” and more with Biblical passages. Because, oh yes, it can be done. Easily.

But just because it can, doesn’t mean it should.

So, let me say this very clearly: you are not entitled to any opinion that invalidates someone’s existence or rights.

It is not acceptable, because it is hate-filled. It is sinful because it is missing the mark of loving others without judgment, which is what Christ taught us to do.

It is choosing principles over humans – something that both God and Christ would never, ever do. Jesus spent his earthly life specifically doing the opposite. Not sure where that wire got crossed.

God’s profligate love has never changed. But oh my how badly have we messed up its translation.

What really matters is this: that people know they are loved. They are beautifully made. No matter what. Period.