| Sunny Side Up July 10, 2002 �2002, Kathleen Gibson Be encouraged to encourage It�s an old story, and some of the details needed imagining, but the lesson remains. Paderewski, one of history�s greatest pianists, had come to town for a concert. The audience had spent a small fortune on their tickets and a buzz of excitement blanketed the concert hall. Unnoticed, a young boy escaped from his mother�s view and wandered onto the stage where the gleaming grand piano waited for Paderewski. Mute. Tempting. He tiptoed close, touched the polished black surface and�almost reluctantly, as if he wanted to do the right thing, but the temptation was too much for him�he sidled onto the bench. He bounced up and down a few times then, stretched his foot out�far out�to press the silver pedals; slowly lifted his hands and began playing. Some say it was Chopsticks. Others say Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. As the faltering �plink plinks� filtered into the ears of that elite audience, they grew ominously quiet. And the murmurs began. �Whose kid is that?� �What kind of parents would bring a child to a piano concert by the great Paderewski?� �Somebody get him off the stage!!!� �This is an outrage!� Suddenly Paderewski strode from the wings. There was a collective intake of breath. Surely he would throw the impudent rascal off the stage. The pianist stopped behind the boy, who by now was having such fun he was completely unaware of the stir he�d caused. The man stooped over, whispered something in one small ear. To the audience�s surprise, the boy continued playing. Stretching both arms around him, Paderewski placed his own long fingers on the keys and began playing. A contrapuntal bass to the left, a running obligato to the right. That childrens� ditty has never�before or since�sounded the same. It was a composition worthy of a symphony concert. After it was over, after the shocked silence, the audience rose to its feet and cheered. Long and loud. The boy later told his mother what the master had whispered into his ear. �Don�t quit,� he�d said, �Keep playing.� I pray to encourage like that. In the ears of the weak, the timid, the grieving and hurting, the lonely and fearful; to the mutters of a complaining world, �Get that one off the stage. Who do they think they are anyway?� Christians are called to whisper �Don�t quit. NEVER QUIT.� But let�s remember this: As we tiptoe onto the stages of other�s lives, where they play their fumbling tunes, sometimes to jeers and catcalls to cease and desist; as we encircle them in our arms and urge them to keep at it, to keep playing, God approaches from behind, enfolds us both in his everlasting arms and whispers in our ears too. �Don�t quit�.never quit.� And one day, viewed in the spotlight of eternity, the resulting music will raise a chorus of praise from heaven�s audience. I encourage you to encourage. You can respond to this column at [email protected] |