Last night on TV I watched a stage version of The Sound of Music. In the well-known story Maria is sent from the abbey to be governess to Captain von Trapp’s seven children. Maria falls in love with the captain and returns to the abbey to escape….
Mother Abbess tells Maria to return to the family to face her challenges and discover her purpose in life:
Climb every mountain, search high and low
Follow every by way, every path you know
Climb every mountain, ford every stream
Follow every rainbow, till you find your dream
The easy thing to do when facing difficulties and problems is to avoid them, run away from them to a place of safety – which for Maria was the abbey. The wise abbess tells Maria not just to face and confront her challenges, but to engage with them – to follow the pathway, to cross the stream, to climb the mountain
A dream that will need, all the love you can give
Every day of your life, for as long as you live
Climb every mountain, ford every stream
Follow every rainbow, till you find your dream
When I was younger the mountains that I faced were to do with activity and responsibility – decisions to make at school, in church, with my family… leading to dreams of a mortgage paid off and comfortable retirement.
The challenges that I face today, are different – including pathways of grief, rivers of changing family situations, mountains of ill-heath. Mother abbess’s wise advice reminded Maria that to climb her mountain she needs love ‘all the love you can give’ and consistent determination ‘every day of your life’.
I need the same wise advice.
The show starts, ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’. Throughout the story the hills are the place of life, joy and hope. The story ends with the Von Trapp family heading off to the hills where they will find freedom and safety. The mountains of difficulty that Maria had to climb turned out to be their secure destination. Her problem became her solution.
Mother Abbess quotes Psalm 121: ‘I will lift up my eyes to the hills – From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.’
Today I remember that the God who made the mountains puts difficult mountains in my path that I must climb. I trust that in those mountains I shall find hope and freedom, and pray that I shall climb with ‘all the love I can give, everyday of my life for as long as I live.’
malcolmsmusings.org 
The TV stage versions of Billy Elliott, Miss Saigon, 42nd Street (London) and The Newsies are all available. All absolutely fantastic musicals that we have watched many many times. And still Billy Elliott makes me cry. And still the dancing in The Newsies has me spellbound.
The story of the underdog/s is a universal story.
All people climbing a seemingly impossible mountain.
Unfortunately, they’ve never filmed a stage version of Blood Brothers.
Seeing Billy Elliott live was an unforgettable experience. Every song/dance received a standing ovation.
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