The blog below is from a few years ago but worth repeating.

Give away your passion?  No, this is not a blog about Valentine’s Day.  But the story is about passion.

My daughter Jessica has always been a passionate person.  Even when she was a baby, she’d wake up babbling, and when she learned how to talk, it seemed a song was always not far behind.  It was natural that she took up piano.  And with it, her music filled the rooms of our house as she fluttered the keys.

Fast forward.  Jessica is now in college, and while she couldn’t take her piano with her, she always manages to find time to play in one of the designated piano rooms.  But on this particular day, all the rooms were filled, so Jessica sat down at the only available piano:  the one in the dorm lobby.

The piano, I suppose for keeping the study area quiet, was more for decoration, but still she played.  She played the music of her heart, and a little piece she’d made up.  She swayed with the music and her pulse seemed to flow into the keys.  It was powerful, and it was passionate.

As the strains faded away, the dorm janitor strolled up.  Fearing at first, she’d broken the rules, instead he told her that he loved hearing her play.  He told her that she played with great passion.  He hesitated, and he made the move to walk away.

And then he turned back, and told her the rest of the story:  his family had donated the piano.  It was donated in honor of his niece.  She’d been a student at the college when she volunteered to take some food to a needy family.  On her way back, she’d been hit by a drunk driver and killed.  With misty eyes, he told Jessica that she looked like his niece, and that he’d be sure to get the piano tuned.

Give away your passion.  And touch those around you.

Bill High

Bill is CEO & Founder of Vyne Legacy. He works with families to equip them with tools to build multigenerational legacies, and he teaches givers and financial advisers on transformational biblical generosity. He is the co-author with David Green of Giving It All Away and Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously.

Published June 21, 2016

Topics: Lessons with Bill

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