Beautiful Music

My mom came across an interesting story last night that I wanted to share. It's about a musician named Joshua Bell who is one of the top violinists in the world (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html?referrer=digg to see article). On January 9, 2007 Joshua sold out a performance at Boston's Symphony Hall, where tickets were $100 each, and three days later he decided to perform an experiment. Joshua headed down to the DC subway at rush hour to play a 45 minute set, which included one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with his violin valued at 3.5 million dollars. During that 45 minutes it is estimated that nearly 1,100 people passed by Joshua. 27 of those 1,100 people dropped money into Joshua's bucket, which totalled $32.17. Most dropped in the money without so much as looking at Joshua, let alone stopping to hear him play. Several children, most notably a 3 year old boy, stopped to listen to Joshua, but all were hurried along by their parents.
Joshua's experiment was one of perceptions and taste. He wanted to find out if we perceive beauty and truly appreciate it, and if we recognize talent in an unexpected context. On the whole, the answer he got back across the board was "no."
The article got me thinking about man's relationship with God, which sadly has so many parallels to Joshua's story. Everyday you, I and the rest of the world encounter the most gifted artist the world has ever known. His works are all around us on display, and we pass them by. Some of us give a miniscule piece of the wealth we have at our fingertips for his cause and time, but usually it's without really saturating ourselves in his work or taking a moment away from us to focus on him. He's playing all around us, begging us to listen and find joy in his music, and we turn a blind eye and deaf ear. Isn't it funny that the 3 year old boy was the one who recognized talent and beauty and appreciated it. I've found that that's the way it usually is in life, out of the mouths of babes come such amazingly truthful and beautiful insights about God and his kingdom.

And Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3-4

May you and I both stop and marvel at the music being composed around us and for us today and always. Blessings!