Teddy Bears

Remember SNL’s Valentine’s Day commercial-spoof about buying your significant other a teddy bear holding a heart? The spoof was making the point that there’s hardly a more cliché gift than this plush vascular-holding omnivore. Does a better way to say that you’re only buying a gift out of an obligation to tradition even exist? A well-thought out gift is rarely mass-produced, an exceptional love rarely stoops to safe normalcy. I heard someone say that if your giving (tithing) isn’t hurting your style of living, you are not giving enough, that simply following the 10% tradition isn’t always sufficient.  But forget about money for a moment. What about the command to take up our crosses daily? Are we settling for cliché demonstrations of our love of Christ? Have we simply incorporated our “sacrifices” into our safety zones? Read the Bible. Go to church. Bake for a sick friend. Participate in one church activity. Don’t cheat on your spouse. All good things, of course. Ask yourself, though, what can you do this Valentine’s Day (and everyday) for Christ that goes above and beyond the safe, normal, mass-produced Christian “sacrifices?” Or are we settling for a love that is something less than exceptional?