I started crying on the way home from the store the other day. Please don’t laugh at me, but the beauty of nature really moves me. We live in a beautiful neighborhood. Despite what happens to our noses, this time of year is wonder-filled. I decided to drive slowly and take notice of my surroundings. I took in the lush, green plants and trees, the brightly colored azaleas, pansies, tulips, daffodils, and dogwoods abloom all around our neighborhood. I don’t know why, but it hurt to see such beauty. It moved me to praise God and yearn for more at the same time.
I’m sharing this because something tragic happened in Washington, D.C. the other day. Forget the tragedy that is American politics for a minute. The Washington Post did a little experiment on January 12. Gene Weingarten shares the results in Pearls Before Breakfast: Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let’s find out. The article is very interesting, but the video says it all. Aside from being a fascinating study of human behavior, it is also an indication that Americans are severely inept when it comes to recognizing and appreciating beauty. Most of these people were concerned about what their work-day was going to be like. Many were going shopping, getting breakfast, standing in line for a lottery ticket…and they completely ignored the beauty pouring from Joshua Bell’s violin. They did not even applaud between pieces. And for some reason, their deafness to beauty hurts my heart.
Back to the article. There were one or two people who noticed. One man, when seeing he had a few minutes to spare, stopped and listened. He even dropped some money in Bell’s violin case. Then, there was a little child. I noticed the child right away because of the brightly colored coat. I couldn’t tell if it was a he or she, but it was obvious that the child noticed the musician and wanted to stop and listen. Unfortunately, the parent quickly whisked him/her out the door, despite the child’s twisting and turning. Thus, teaching the tyke that there isn’t any time to stop and enjoy the beautiful music, and administering one more death blow to the God-given instinct of the child to notice something special and beautiful.
I don’t want to kill that instinct in my children, and I don’t want it to be dead in me. I don’t want to wander around on auto-pilot. I want to take the time to open my eyes and ears to notice beauty, to allow beauty to affect me, to be moved and ministered to by God through His beauty displayed in nature and in music.
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Leslie Wiggins 
11 responses to “This makes my heart hurt”
Excellent post.
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Leslie,We live in the DC area and read that article as well. Amazing isn’t it? My husband and I are also musicians, I taught elementary music, so on top of appreciating the arts, we are supporters as well. I just wish we had been there to hear him play! Thank you for reminding us that God’s beauty is all around for us to see and hear. I don’t want to get so caught up in the busyness of life, that I forget to see what God is doing around me.Thank you for this!
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HI Leslie,I know you have already received a Thinking Blogger Award but I couldn’t resist including you in my top 5 :o)Cheers,Sandi
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I’m glad to be back so I can read your great blog! It’s so true that most times we do not understand nor appreciate God’s world. I pray that we will see it more clearly.
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What an amazing article! When my husband and I were in Vienna, we stood and listened to a street musician (Not Joshua Bell!) who was really good for over 1/2 hour. It was great! I agree, I so much want to instill in my kids a love of beauty and an appreciation of the wonderful God who gave it all to us. In my little world that sometimes means not going to Karate so we can all stay outside and plant flowers together or doing a little less math so we can go for a walk and pick flowers. I’m also taking this as a reminder to play more good music around the house.
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this got me thinking: who is to blame for our collective numbness to beauty?could it possibly be that people feel so stressed to get to work on time that they simply can’t allow themselves to stop for even a moment?afterall, Bell was playing right during rush hour? it seems sort of unfair to blame people for just trying to get to work on time??
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Elizabeth–I can see your point. Why blame them for just trying to get to work on time? And, as the article stated, Bell was not in a proper frame…he was out of context. I thought about that. It does seem a little unfair, however, Bell isn’t your typical street musician. Something amazing is something amazing no matter where it is, right? And yet, almost everyone acted like they didn’t notice he was there. Somehow we have conditioned ourselves to the point that we do not take notice of the most wonderful things that make life enjoyable…just so that we can go about our busy lives, from one task to the next. The whole point, I think, is that we allow ourselves to be so caught up in ourselves and our own sense of importance that we don’t notice people (did you read down to the part about the homeless man who died while people just walked by!), beauty, something funny, good music…and yet we’re stressed, unhappy, selfish, (fill in any adjective you’ve heard to describe Americans), and want to blame it on everyone else. Just a few moments of noticing something wonderful might help to heal all of that. Did you notice the singular concern for many of those interviewed? Self. “I just negotiated a huge contract.” “I had to get to training.” And money. “How can this guy make a living doing this?” People rushing to make a dollar or standing in line to buy a chance to win some dollars. Our vision has become so clouded and dark.Those same people may not have been too late for work if they had taken notice for even a moment. Just a moment. How different this story would be if, say, 30 people, had slowed their steps and just looked at Bell.
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Hey! Thanks for comming over…I haven’t been over here in a bit. Amen and amen! I am very much a lover of nature, beauty and things God creates for us to enjoy. I stop and smell the roses. I literally drink in His amazing creation…including beautiful music. It too, breaks my heart that people are so busy “being” that they don’t enjoy living. Thanks for this insight!
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Wonderful insight,Leslie!I think you are right and we have become very busy doing things that really don’t matter in the big scheme of things….which explains one of our reasons to homeschool….so that we can stop and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation…that we are not too busy to do things that are of greater significance.Since Gracie plays the violin… and she admires Joshua Bell…I will have to let her see this!Kim
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http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/569_ignoring_beauty_revisited/Here is a good post relating to yours!
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oh amen! Thanks for sharing!!! I hadn’t read about this or seen the video…but Jason had. I don’t want to be “blind” or “deaf” to the gifts the Lord has given us as a means of worship! He’s a creator of beautiful things, and He has allowed us to see and know a little more of Him through ALL His creation!
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