When you have been starved of something for a while, you tend to overdo it when it’s finally available.

Though we say it sometimes, we don’t know very much about starving here in North America. We use the expression, “I’m starving” regularly. Often it has to do with food, but really we have not been starved. 

The closest I get to starving is most evenings coming home from work. 

I usually have low blood sugar and feel like I need to eat immediately. It doesn’t even matter if dinner is being cooked, and is only minutes away from making it to my plate. I need to fill my pie hole with something quickly because “I’m starving”. 

For some of you – including my wife, Lily – you would respond, “That’s ridiculous; just be patient.” 

But for all those like my daughter, you understand completely what this kind of starving feels like, and why I can’t wait. 

Well, this is a little like how I feel about sports right now. 

Basically, I’ve gone without watching sports on TV for months now. 

I’m not showing physical signs of starvation. My weight is not rapidly decreasing; I’m not looking all gaunt; my eyes aren’t receding deep into my skull.

But in a metaphysical sense, all the signs are there – I’m skin and bones.

Sure, there has been some football on TV, but it’s more like feast or famine. You can watch on Sunday, late on Monday and Thursday. 

But what about the rest of the week?

With hockey, you used to be able to watch a game almost every night of the week – no down time whatsoever. 

But I’ve been starved of hockey for months. 

In any other year, at this point, I would be attending one to three Kingston Frontenac OHL games in person per week … plus stopping by to check in on the boys once during the week as their chaplain. 

I would also be able to watch the Leafs play about three or more times, as well as watch a little while I exercised in my workout room.

So I’ve gone from all that down to nothing. You can imagine who emaciated I must seem … in a metaphorical sense.

For the last three months, I’ve been able to play hockey, which has been great. I’d never give that up for watching a game but, like that low blood sugar I get around dinner time, I need to stuff my eyes full of some hockey right now. 

It was the other day when I realized all this. The world junior championships were upon us and they were having a couple of tune-up games before the tournament began. 

I found myself watching two games in one night. These games meant absolutely nothing, but it was hockey. 

Switzerland played Austria and then I watched Czechoslovakia play Slovakia. 

These were nothing games, and I didn’t know any of the players on any of the teams except for one guy who plays for the Kingston Frontenacs.

… I’ve been starved for hockey.

Here’s the thing: When you go without something, there comes a point when you start to crave it. As believers one thing we have been starved of this last year is fellowship with one another. That should be something we crave. Find ways to connect with others in the faith, through face time, zoom or just plan phone calls. Make this a purposeful effort. Don’t starve yourself.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you been deprived of lately? Leave your comments and questions below. 

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