A great violinist thrilled his audience with his playing. At the end of his selection, he smashed the violin into a hundred pieces over a chair. The people sat in shock. Then he picked up another violin and said. “Don’t be alarmed the one I smashed I purchased for only a few dollars in a shop down the street. I will now play upon my Stradivarius.” He played the same selection, but the majority of the people could not tell the difference.
Then the violinist said, “Friends, so much has been told about the value of my violin that I wanted to impress upon you the fact that music is not in the instrument, it’s in the one who plays it.”
Same with us, it’s not the work we do, but what we put into it. When we put our heart and enthusiasm into our days, it is as sacred to sell shoes as to preach sermons. When we daily put ourselves into God’s hands and do what we do as unto the Him, He will bring out of us the music that is in us.
Michelangelo bought an inferior piece of marble, which no one else would buy. Asked why he bought it, he said. “Because there’s an angel in there and I must set it free” and then he went to work. The story reminds me of the fact that God has placed music within us, and only as we put our best into what we do with joy and enthusiasm, then the music is freed.
I’ve produced a series of timely messages that help you see the value of every job and all work. Download my series called “Making Sense of Work.”
