Cliche'

Here's a question for you. Why are cliche' statements considered bad?

In a conversation with a friend a few weeks back, she mentioned that her blog post about the beginning of Christmas this year was much like her post from last year. How true! And what's wrong with that? Christmas is surrounded by tradition, spanning from Thanksgiving to New Years. A month and half of doing the same things again and again, year after year after year after year! And we don't complain about our traditions. In fact, they make the season all the more special because we know we get to do it all over again.

One could easily argue that our traditions are cliche'. They're not original in the least. After all, the world has been around long enough to have come up with every sort of thing imaginable.

So how are our repeated words so different from our repeated actions? So often we hear someone say, "Oh, that's so cliche'! Come on!" Whether its a book or movie or something they witnessed in their own lives, if its been said before, it somehow has less value, less meaning, less importance. Ecclesiastes says, "There is nothing new under the sun." But contrary to what people think, this is not a bad thing.

A man telling a woman that he can't think clearly because she clouds his mind is nothing new, yes, but that doesn't make it any less true. It still happens. A father telling his son he's proud of him still makes the son feel like quite a man. A friend telling another friend that they will pray for them is not to be brushed aside. A man telling a woman he loves her still makes her feel like she can fly.

If we're willing to do strange things like bring a tree into our homes every year for our entire lives, we shouldn't be surprised when we hear the same logical things coming back around. It may not be original, but that doesn't mean it isn't true, or meant, or of any less worth than the first time it was said. "These words of my own (I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you) from my heart flow."

There is a reason some things are said so much. A reason why we think they become cliche'. Its because they are worthy of repetition.

Laughter really is one of the best medicines.

And home really is where your heart is.