Peace in the Heart

     "Paganini, the great violinist, came out before his audience one day and made the discovery just as they ended their applause that there was something wrong with his violin.  He looked at it a second and then saw that it was not his famous and valuable one.
      He felt paralyzed for a moment, then turned to his audience and told them there had been some mistake and he did not have his own violin.  He stepped back behind the curtain thinking it was still where he had left it, but discovered that someone had stolen his and left that old secondhand one in its place.  He remained back of the curtain a moment, then came out before his audience and said:
     "Ladies and Gentlemen:  I will show you that the music is not in the instrument, but in the soul."  And he played as he had never played before; and out of that secondhand instrument, the music poured forth until the audience was enraptured with enthusiasm and the applause almost lifted the ceiling of the building, because the man had revealed to them that music was not in the machine but in his own soul."

And so it is our mission, when we are tested and tried, to reveal to all that the music of our life is not in conditions, not in things, not in externals, but the music of life is in our own soul!
I like this little poem by Charles Richardson --

     "If peace be in the heart, the wildest winter storm is full of beauty,
The midnight flash but shows the path of duty,
      Each living creature tells some new and joyous story,
The very trees and stones all catch a ray of glory, if peace be in the heart."

So, today, if you feel like you have lost your "valuable violin" through the trials, difficulties, heartaches, loss of jobs, etc. plaguing our nation and world right now--just take a little time to be still-- quiet your heart--and have a little talk with Jesus!  You will soon rise above the cares of life, and sense the sweet peace of God flooding your soul!  God bless you!