The story of the Lost Cello

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After a concert, Peter Stumf, the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, visited a frend's house. He inadvertently left his cello in it's case outside on the friend's doorstep while he chatted with his friend inside.

A young man passing by on his bike saw the cello case outside the house. When he saw that there was nobody around, be quickly grabbed it and took off with it. When he was some distance away, he stopped to examine the contents of the case.

When he saw that it was a musical instrument he was so disappointed that he tossed it into a nearby garbage dumpster.

This young cyclist had no idea that this musical instrument, which is a cello is an extremely rare Stradivarius cello, and is valued at.... 3.5 million dollars!!!

3.5 Million and he had just thrown it away, where it sat amongst all the other heaps of rubbish.

When Peter Stumf found out that his priceless Stradivarius cello was lost, he was totally devastated.

Stradivarius instruments are extremely rare and priceless. They belong to the stringed instruments made by the Stradivari family in the 17th century. The best instruments were made by Master Craftman Antonio Stradivari between 1698-1720.

Back to our lost cello... a young woman passing by the garbage dump picked up Peter Stumf's cello and took it home. she of course had no clue as to it's value. She turned it around, examined it and thought of creative ways to use the cello.

She then struck on what to her was a brilliant idea... aha! she thought, she could bring it to her carpenter boyfriend and get him to cut it open, put tiny shelves in it, add some hinges so that it could open and close and use it as a CD Rack!!!

Thank God she discussed this with her friend who asked to see the cello. Following her instincts, her friend examined the cello closely and to their utter shock discovered it to be a priceless Stradivarius!

The friend recalled reading about this lost cello and ... happily this 3.5 million dollar cello was reunited with its owner.

I would like all of you to think into this story with me.
When we don't know the value of something, we could very well treat it as mere rubbish. Imagine treating a 3.5 million dollar cello as rubbish because WE DON'T KNOW.

What if we don't know OUR OWN VALUE? What if we were all 3.5mllion dollar Stradivarius cellos and WE DID NOT KNOW IT?

We could very well throw ourselves away in a rubbish heap! Or we could very well end up as a cheap CD Rack

The problem of not knowing our own value means we don't value ourselves. We don't value ourselves enough to do everything we can to bring out the very best in ourselves.

To bring out the most beautiful music from our very hearts, our minds and our souls... because WE ARE ALL THAT 3.5 million dollar cello!

Each of us have to know that we are all God's priceless creations.

And... you and I have within ourselves songs that need to be sung.

My friends, know yourselves, know your worth, know your value... so that we can all fill this world with the most exquisite melodies of lives fulfilled, of lives that have reached their full potential.