Missing the Obvious

In the morning of January 12th, 2007, the Washington Post and a world famous violinist did an experiment on how many people would appreciate beauty in the ordinary. At 7:12am, Joshua Bell started playing his $3.5million violin free of charge, for nearly half an hour. Out of 1097 who passed him at the metro station, only 7 paused to listen. Although he collected $32.17 in donations for a 45 minutes performance, what is most valuable is the lesson that most people do not appreciate beauty in the ordinary. They fail to embrace the beauty we see day to day. (video) Years later, Bell would return to the same subway station but this time, the response was better.



When I read that most of the people who stopped were children, I remember how Jesus taught us to be like little children. Indeed, spirituality is about learning to see God in the most ordinary circumstances of life. Children do that act of wonder extremely well.

For the rest of us who call ourselves adults, we are guilty of missing the obvious. In doing so, we fail to embrace the beauty before us. What if Jesus is walking with us all along?

conrade