My heart is big enough to love even those who see the world in a fundamentally different way.

I feel this deeply. My enlarged heart got that way by having faith, and there are so many ways to find and feel the sacred things.

I got a text today from a friend who simply said Yay for the Mormans! (sic) with three rainbow emojis. I was glad she felt to rejoice in my church affirming their support for marriage equality. How can we not support it? If we want to believe what we want, we have to have that collective Big Heart to actively support what others want and need. Then theoretically, it comes back around to allow us to continue to practice sacred things, but the modern collective idea generator is placing less value on the sacred things.

When it comes to faith and God and what I believe about Jesus, I explain it to others very simplistically: Everyone is invited to the top of the mountain. Some people will hike with nothing but a water bottle and some granola bars. Some will spend a few grand at Patagonia or REI and be outfitted in deluxe fashion. Some will hire a guide, some will pay for the helicopter. Some will hike alone. And we will all take different paths and have different hiking sensibilities. My biggest faith is that there will be room at the summit for way more people than we think.

But you don’t have to seek for the summit. You can stay in the safety of the foothills and the plateaus. That is important to remember also. I don’t think I will ever conquer Angel’s Landing or climb up the Half Dome Cable route. Just not in my skillset. But driving to the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire? Or hiking to the top of Old Rag in Virginia? Those could happen.

We all get to go where we will feel happiest. And many are not interested in all the summits.