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Don’t miss God’s blessings in the rush

Regular columnist Ruth Tong urges us not to allow the hectic pace of modern life blind us to the blessings God has for us.

On a cold winter’s morning in January 2008 an experiment was carried out in a Washington metro station using a busker playing the violin to assess the behaviour of commuters. Variables such as beauty of the music, commuter time constraints etc were focused on in order to gauge levels of musical appreciation.
 
The big deal with this particular experiment was the person playing the violin: It was the famous violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, who only 3 days before had sold out the Boston Symphony Hall, playing to more than ten thousand people. In the lobby of the metro he used his 1713 Stradivarius, worth millions, to play six of his most beautiful pieces of music.
 
Initially, the metro management thought they might have to draft in extra security to cope with the crowds, but a strange thing happened - Out of his usual context, Bell became, in effect, invisible. A few commuters and a couple of children paused, but most people rushed into their morning unaware of the treasure in their midst.
 
Isaiah 6:9 ‘Be ever hearing but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving’
 
It’s so easy to get caught up in the business of life that we miss the beauty and the blessings of God. In Isaiah, the reason people lost their perception was because they become selfish and hard of heart. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to keep our hearts soft and open to blessings we might take for granted and miss.
 
‘Lord give me eyes to see, really see what I’m missing and ears to hear to wonder of your word over me so that my world can be fragranced, coloured and filled with more of you’ – Amen
 

The image of Joshua Bell is courtesy of Aaron "tango" Tang on Flickr



Ruth TongRuth Tong is the Coordinator of Women’s Ministries at Eternity Downham Market, and is the author of ‘Love Drops from Heaven’.  Ruth regularly blogs at ruthtong.com/blog

 


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