DON'T RATION PRAISE

I once received a compliment from a fellow who seemed to pride himself on the fact that he praised others only on the rarest of occasions. I suppose he thought rationing appreciation makes it more valuable. It's hard to understand why some people feel they need to be frugal with praise. You're never going to run low on your compliment capacity. I've never heard of anyone being stricken with a severe illness as the result of giving too much praise. The government won't run an audit on your congratulations account and you won't be arrested for being too generous in your verbal evaluation of other people. So why would anybody think that giving an honest compliment is more threatening that a visit to an oral surgeon?

Married couples are often the worst offenders. A wife prepares her husband's favorite food, which he consumes night after night without comment. I've heard wives say they really wondered if their husbands would ever notice the difference if they served shoe leather. A husband puts in eight hours of toil with people yelling at him and making all kinds of unreasonable demands. In exchange for his honest labor, he dutifully brings home a pay check every week but he never hears his wife say, "Honey, I really appreciate how hard you work to make us a living."

Human relations in general and marriage in particular would be improved drastically if we would learn to express appreciation more often. The Bible says we need to give "honor to whom honor is due." People who practice that know how to get along with one another and enjoy the time they spend together on this earth. In one of his monologues, humorist Garrison Keillor explained why a certain couple maintained a fifty year relationship of marital enjoyment. Every night when the evening meal was finished, the husband would take the hand of his wife, look into her eyes and say, "Honey, that's the best you've ever done." How much did it cost him to do that? Not a cent. How much did it pay? There's no way to put a dollar figure on the value of praise. No matter how frugal you may be, don't ration praise. It's not worth it.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT

DREAMS

"Everyone has a picture of what Oz is like except those who live in Oz. Those who live in Oz know that there are terrible problems inside." - Garth Brooks in a television interview of Jane Pauley on NBC - September 22, 1992.

JOY

"The world has a philosophy that says, 'What can't be cured must be endured.' Christians have a philosophy that says, 'What can't be cured can be enjoyed.'" - Joni Eareckson Tada

PEOPLE AND THINGS

"To life fully, we must learn to use things and love people, not love things and use people." - John Powell.

NEXT WEEK'S OUTLINE - "How to Have a Fair Fight"