God – Last weekend I watched the classic, magical musical, The Sound of Music, with Julie Andrews playing the postulant, Maria, and Christopher Plummer, playing Captain Von Trapp, in the beautiful setting of Austria. There was the scene of Maria meeting with the Mother Superior after Maria had left the Von Trapp family and she not wanting to face the fact that there might be love between her and the Captain. Rather than facing the possibility of love and marriage, Maria asked Mother Superior if she could immediately take her vows to become a nun.
Rather than saying “yes”, Mother Superior replied, “The Abbey is not to be used as a place to escape. These walls were not built to shut out your problems. You must face them.”
Lord, how many of us want to stay in our comfort zones as if we were in the walls and safety of an Abbey? Rather than face uncomfortable surroundings or difficult people, we stay at home, work longer at the office or refuse to change our ways.
Lord, how many of us build walls which are much more formidable than the walls of any Abbey? Those walls keep us from dealing with problems in our families, with our friends and in our relationships with others. Loving relationships are harmed or stifled altogether by our walls of anger, resentment, lack of forgiveness, absence of compassion or inability to understand the needs of others.
Lord, please help us to leave the walls of the Abbey within ourselves and our comfort zones and step out as we are called by You to love others. Watching The Sound of Music leaves our hearts and souls dancing. We are left with the prospect that, even in the dark times of a World War, there was hope. There was love and laughter to be found. There was the light of joyful song in dealing with human struggles and difficult relationships.
Lord, with faith in You we are assured that in every problem we face that You have provided a solution for us. In prayer help us find those solutions, take down those walls which separate us from others and in doing so find You and Your love for us. Amen
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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.
Jack,
This is the prayer I needed today. Thank you.