After our wedding, we carefully took up the white envelopes with notes of blessing and kind monetary gifts, and invested in what we thought mattered, and what we might never purchase again: a good mattress, and three pieces of art. We bought crisp new sheets for the mattress. And frames for the art: fine matting with a complimenting frame. For, so I thought, all true art warrants a frame. I was wrong; miserably, regrettably, misguided.
It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour, and a fiddler played before his open case. On that morning in January, life had no gilded, glinting frame; life was just happening, as it so often does, one part fading unoticeably into the next. In the next 43 minutes, the violinist performed six classical pieces and 1,097 people passed by; who had time to stop and stare? Life was happening, full of care…and with no frame to punctuate the laudable moments.
The Washington Post reports:
"No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?
There was never a crowd, not even for a second. In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played (yes, Joshua Bell, who has won three Grammys, made his professional debut at age 14 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, who five years later, received an Avery Fisher Career Grant for promising American classical performers, and just now in April, received the Avery Fisher Prize, honoring achievement in a career—Joshua Bell who has played for crowned heads and whose talents can command $1,000 a minute) seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.
He was, in short, art without a frame.”
Life comes unframed. Without a frame, we rush by the Master’s masterpieces, blind to the beauty He relentlessly strokes in color all around us.
Rarely do we feel the tap on the shoulder and hear the words, “This is significant. Pause. Gaze. Memorize the beauty of the now."
Life scenes do not line the walls of hushed galleries with lighting to highlight. Life does not command thousands of dollars for premier seating. Thus, His daily music becomes nothing more than background noise, ears deaf to His breathtaking composition. We are life commuters, oblivious and indifferent to the Master creating beauty only three feet away.
“If we can't take the time out of our lives to stay a moment and listen to one of the best musicians on Earth play some of the best music ever written; if the surge of modern life so overpowers us that we are deaf and blind to something like that -- then what else are we missing?”
We are missing God. With no ears to hear, no eyes to see, we miss Him whose breathtaking work comes unframed.
Gabriela Mistral wrote, “Beauty... is the shadow of God on the universe.”
And we glance down at our watches, check the task list…and race on by. We can hardly make out the words of the Apostle Paul:
"Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse…Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies." ~Phil. 4:8
It is Tuesday morning, a few minutes after nine, and life is happening without a frame. But slow the pace. Pause a moment. Fill your mind with the beautiful. Meditate on the lovely. Hear that? Do you have eyes to see Him over there, nondescript, playing to the world? God is here, creating frameless art, executing the most excellent harmonies. Feel His shadow... and applaud.
Lord, give me eyes to see and ears to hear You. You are creating beauty everywhere: gifts. And You are not to be missed.
(Gracious hat tip to Spunky for emailing me the link to the Post piece. It is good to listen to the music with you.)
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