Don’t Let Loved Ones Starve For Appreciation

Often, we hear of people who are starving to death.  Some of the fundraisers bring us pictures of children affected with malnutrition and they show to us skeletons with sin stretched over them.  And they touch our sympathy and cause us to open our pocketbook.

Of course, all of that is good.  We should have an appreciation and concern for those who are starving, but while we are feeding the hungry, let us not forget that people starve in other ways.

Some people are starving to death for appreciation.  They have been good servants.  They have done many notable and honorable things, and nobody has said to them, “I appreciate what you are doing.”

So often it is like the old gentleman and his wife, who in a nursing home for years, were having their 60th anniversary on one Sunday afternoon.

After the crowd had left, the old brother went over to speak to his wife, who was a bit hard of hearing and said, “Wife, I want you to know that I appreciate you.”

She said, “Huh?”

He raised the volume of his voice and almost shouted, “I want you to know that I appreciate you!”  Still she could not hear, but looking at him, she said, “I’m tired of you, too!”

There are a lot of people who starve to death for appreciation.  A kind word spoken at the right time can lighten the darkness in the hearts of many people.  So, let’s be quick to give appreciation and honor to whom honor is due.