Some thoughts on love

When I was younger I used to think of God as some sort of divine friend, always beside me, always up for an internal chat  – the process that’s called “prayer”. And one of the things I was taught was that God loved me. Apparently, there was no greater kind of love. He was always there for me, and I believed this fervently, sometimes despite evidence to the contrary.

Looking back on this, my thoughts seem somewhat naive. Is there really no greater kind of love?

God doesn’t always protect people from harm, or malice or suffering. When you are feeling miserable, he’s not a physical presence that holds you close. God, they say, gives us free will, but that’s quite a different thing to a caring, protective kind of love – it exposes us to grim reality, without anyone pulling back or saying “stop”. God’s love might be great, but it’s not a protective and caring love.

However, I am fortunate enough to have known a source of love that is protective and caring and all those things – my parents. Being a parent myself now, I know how strong that love is towards my own children. With parental love, it is possible to deliberately change conditions and events to prevent harm happening to another person.

So, if God’s love is great and perfect and all those things, then it’s a lesser kind of love than parental love can be. Or the love of two people for each other. Or even the love that a small child might have for a pet animal.

Now, maybe I’m reading this incorrectly – maybe God’s love is defined as encompassing all these things. But why attribute this love to God? Why not just dispense with this unnecessary assumption and focus on the people who are showing you love?

Can there still be a separate type of love from God which is different to the love of those around you? And if so, why is it so poor in quality?