Don't Quit, Keep Playing

"This is a story about Ignace Paderewski, Poland's famous concert pianist. A mother who had ambitions for her own young son's piano playing bought tickets for a Paderewski concert. When the night of the concert arrived, the mother and her son found their seats near the front of the auditorium and kept their eye on the great, majestic Steinway on the stage. Soon the mother was talking to a friend in the seat next to hers and her son slipped away unnoticed.~~~When eight o'clock arrived the spotlights dimmed. The audience became very quiet and only then did they notice the young boy up on the piano bench, innocently fingering "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."~~~Needless to say, his mother gasped, but before she could jump from her seat to retrieve her son, the master pianist himself appeared on stage and quickly moved to the keyboard. "Don't quit, keep playing," he whispered to the boy.~~~Leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in the base part. Then his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running treble part. Together, the old master and the little boy held the crowd spellbound.~~~In the same way we know the master surrounds our lives and whispers in our ear, time and again, "Don't quit, Keep playing." (Excerpt from "Journey With Jeff." Photo ~ Jeff at four years old, entertaining a friend.)