Perhaps it's nitpicky, but I've never really liked the phrase "I love you to the moon and back."
I've seen people get so ushy-gushy romantic, or sweet and sentimental about it, as if that phrase was a huge testament of love.
All that phrase makes me think is, why such a short distance?
Now, I know the moon is quite a distance for us to travel (especially on a daily basis). I mean logistically speaking how often do we get our hands on a spaceship, right? But still, something about it feels limited.
I don't get warm fuzzies, I start questioning. Why just to the moon? And is this a single trip to the moon? Do you only love me one trip to the moon and back?
I suppose, I take love very seriously. I think of the people I have claimed to love, and I'd do more than go to the moon and back for them, I'd lay down my life for them. Further, I've encountered His amazing love, which in return has caused me to want to love others with proportionate extravagance.
1 John 4 talks about abiding in Christ's love and allowing that to cause an overflow into the lives of others around us - that His love would be made manifest in our worlds. Christ's love was characterized by dizzying patience, incomprehensible grace, unbelievable sacrifice, and depth we can't begin to fathom - that's the kind of love we're supposed to emulate.
As Christians, we shouldn't simply love people to the moon and back, we should love them to infinity and beyond.
To infinity and beyond.
That's more like it.
-A