Do It With Heart

I was doing my morning walk at the neighbouring estate when the sound of the piano slowed my pace. Initially, I was caught by the beautiful strains of a classical piece I was not familiar with. I tried to guess which home the lovely music was coming from. I stopped outside the wall of the house and listened.

Abruptly, the playing stopped. I started to move on when it started again. I paused. It was the same piece, yet it was different. Although I do not play the piano, I could recognise wrong notes being played. But the pianist hardly paused at the mistakes but played on as if in a rush to finish the piece.

I picked up my pace as the music faded behind me. I wondered what it was all about. I smiled. Must have been a kid having to practice a piece before going out, it being a Sunday morning. The other pianist must have been a parent or the piano teacher. It was not just the wrong notes that stood out. It was the music. It came across as hollow and empty. It was played without the ... heart. What caught my attention when I first heard the piece was the "heart" that was in the playing.

Everything comes out "sweeter" when done with the heart. The heart fires the passion and the passion drives the person. Things done without that passion come out at best, just okay.

Think about the teachers you had during your school days. You will be able to identify those who taught with a heart, with a passion. Then, there are those who taught because they had to ... as a job. It is not hard to tell the difference.

Even God knows that we need our hearts to be involved in whatever we do, to do it well ... even loving Him. The great and first commandment - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Matthew 22:37. First, with the heart.

Are you doing things with your heart?