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March 13, 2008
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Can You Hear the Music?, by Rubel Shelly
It was an experiment set up more than a year ago now by the Washington
Post. I don't know how I missed it, and most of you may have seen the
online video clip of the event already. In case you haven't, you can
get more details and see what I am about to describe online. (Click the
link if you are on the website or go to the first article listed
below!)
In what the paper dubbed "an experiment in context, perception and
priorities," the newspaper enlisted the aid of an internationally
famous virtuoso musician. Joshua Bell (image from JoshuaBell.com), who
would shortly play to a standing-room-only audience in the Washington
area, played some of the world's most beautiful classical music at a
Metro station. As more than a thousand people walked through, he played
for just over 40 minutes. And hardly anyone noticed or cared.
The violinist played Bach and Schubert. He played them on a
Stradivarius for which he had paid $3.5 million. With his violin case
open before him and a few bills tossed in to prime the pump, his
45-minute concert took in a total of some $32 from a grand total of 27
donors. And that for a man who gets paid at the rate of $1000 per
minute to perform in packed symphony halls.
What are we to make of such an event? I'm not sure. Maybe it means too
many of us are too busy to notice people -- their skills, their place
in our world, their value to God.
Maybe it underscores how poorly we assign value in life. Several people
walked by with their iPods on and never even turned their heads to the
music being played for them. At a level deeper than the aesthetic,
money, sex, and power trump just about everything – including virtue,
self-discipline, and purity.
There is always more beauty in this world than most of us take the time
to appreciate.
Perhaps it means that we humans are sometimes so self-absorbed that we
diminish others -- in their own eyes. Bell said the experience made him
terribly uncomfortable. The man accustomed to standing ovations heard
only thunderous silence and shuffling feet as a piece came to its end.
For today, however, let me suggest this as a primary meaning for your
reflection: There is always more beauty in this world than most of us
take the time to appreciate. There are the manifold beauties of nature
-- sunrise and sunset, falling snow and blooming flowers, majestic
mountains and roaring oceans; they are God's gifts for our
appreciation, enjoyment, and stewardship.
Yes, there is music -- classical, country, jazz, and rock. There is
rest at the end of a hard day's work. There is conversation between
friends, playful time spent with laughing children, and a walk with
someone you know loves you.
With eyes to see and ears to hear, God will show you so much beauty.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world (Psalm 19:1-4 TNIV).
---------
(c) 2008 Used by permission. From Rubel Shelly's "FAX of Life"
printed each Tuesday. See Faith Matters for previous issues of
the "FAX of Life."
RELATED LINKS:
* Pearls Before Breakfast
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
* Getting the Music Back
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200601/20060112_musicback.html
* Do You Hear Me?
http://www.heartlight.org/feature/feature_970716_doyouhearme.html
* RubelShelly.com
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200803/20080313_hearmusic.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE, by Rick Warren
Takes the message of The Purpose-Driven Church and shows us how to
apply it to our individual lives.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?222
Find more great books, CDs and videos at the Heartlight store! With
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