Our tendency to love only those within our tribe is understandable. We cannot love 7.8 billion people. It just won’t happen.
However, Krista Tipett once said that the real potential of love is beyond tribal boundaries. But extending love outside the tribe depends on how we approach difference. Do we only welcome people who think, feel, and look like us inside our circle? Or do we sit with those different from us? Further, what is the level of difference we can tolerate? Could we see the human element that unites all of us despite all the differences? Do we strive to touch it whenever confronting people outside our tribes?
Tolerance is a skill we can only cultivate when we intentionally invite people different from us inside our circle.
It is possible to look beyond superficial differences and see what binds us. To be able to think of the well-being of a person who has a different opinion from you or who may have even wronged you, is a testament to true love.