Open Your Eyes

It was to be a tribute to the waltz. A celebration of the life of leisure centered in Vienna, Austria. Music to honor composer Johann Strauss, who had made the waltz famous.

These were the intentions of the French composer, Maurice Ravel, when he began sketching his ideas in 1906. After receiving a commission for a ballet in 1909, he decided that this would be his tribute to the waltz.

His heart was filled with honest respect and sincerity, but the project faced several delays before being tabled after the outbreak of World War I in 1914. By 1919, when Ravel again began working on the music, everything had changed. The waltz and everything associated with it no longer seemed so innocent or worth celebrating.

Ravel’s music still “waltzed,” but the subtle undertone had turned dark and pessimistic. When La Valse was played in concerts for the first time in 1920, many missed the irony and cynical hues. But those with ears to hear sensed a change. One writer described it as “a bitter and ferocious fantasy, a terrifying tone poem that helped define a new language of musical nightmare.”

How many people, then and now, seek to “waltz” through life. Carefree. Blind to world problems. Not concerned with morality or the Bible. Not bothered by sin or concerned about God. Even many Believers escape to this kind of fantasy-world.

The Bible repeatedly urges us to open our eyes. To look at the world with spiritual discernment. To seek the heart of God. To feel His passion and burdens. To be people of prayer, whose hearts beat with the pulse of His Spirit. Not to be consumed with thoughts of ourselves, but ready to be His vessels.