You.

Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Song of Solomon eight, verse six. When my wife and I were married, I gave her a charming cuckoo clock. Now, I know that many of you are thinking, what kind of wedding gift is that? Diamonds are a girl's best friend, and you went with a cuckoo clock. But let me explain. I wanted to give the love of my life something unexpected, something that required a little imagination and some creative thinking, something that would be personal, out of the ordinary, and symbolic. Now, some who know me well could say that I got the last one right. I can be a little cuckoo at times. So a cuckoo clock would definitely symbolize that. But as fitting as that thought might be, that's not what I had in mind. A cuckoo clock has weights on a chain that drives the clock's gears. The pendulum moves back and forth as the weights descend and cause the gears to move. Those gears turn the hands of the clock and tell the time. When the weights reach the end of the length of the chain, they must be manually pulled back up to the starting position so the clock will continue to run. This symbolizes the fact that a marriage is made on earth, not in heaven, as some poets suggest, and it requires constant attention and maintenance to keep things running smoothly. I wanted this clock to remind my bride of my promise to work to keep our marriage strong. Of course, the clock also symbolizes time. I wanted my wife to know that she could count on me all the time and for all the time that God allows us to have together on earth. Honestly, I'm not sure there is a better gift that a man can give his wife than the gift of time. Okay, sure, that may be a little sappy, but it's not nearly as cuckoo as you once thought, is it? Happy Valentine's Day.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to [email protected] have a great day, and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day.