Eye Lift

I was thinking earlier today about a favorite old movie, The Sound of Music.  The scene where Julie Andrews quotes one of her favorite verses for inspiration as the family sets out on their arduous journey across the alps to freedom never fails to inspire me.  The visual aspects are breathtaking, and her faith that they could accomplish the fearful flight safely with God's help is uplifting to me every time I view it.


The Psalm she recited was 121:1-2,  "A Song of Ascents. 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."



Her faith, always present, was a tangible, personal faith, which delivered hope even when undertaking the most difficult tasks that were put in her path.  In her quest to follow God's will for her life, she made a few wrong turns, but God had other plans.  It is always interesting to watch as she tries, unsuccessfully, to follow her own plan design, only to be redirected, time and again, by those who understood her true calling, each in their own way.


The real Von Trapp family is equally inspiring, if not quite as famous or adventurous, but few people know the back story.  I think that is a shame, because it is a story of hope and faith in the face of almost unbelievable hardship.


Maria, the mother, born on a train, lost her parents by age seven.  Her eventual husband, a naval commander, lost his wife and mother of his seven children to scarlet fever when the youngest was just a little tot.  The newly minted teacher and hopeful nun was sent to educate his children, when fate (God) intervened.  Maria and Georg married, and their family started an adventure that would ultimately land them on the other side of the world.


They lost their money in a bad investment decision, and took in boarders to survive, including students from the Catholic university.  The university provided them with a chaplain, and he encouraged the family to begin singing together.


A famous singer heard them, and encouraged them to perform at an Austrian festival shortly before the Anschluss.  They gained notoriety, and began touring, ultimately traveling to Italy and the US.  While they were gone, the Nazis confiscated their mansion, and their future was determined.  They continued entertaining people around the world with their story and song for several decades.


They ultimately ended up in Stowe, Vermont in 1940, a lovely little place in a picturesque part of the United States, and started an Inn.  Maria herself became a citizen, but Georg never did.  He died very soon after arriving in 1947, but Maria remained a fixture at their Inn until her death in 1987.


Although the movie brings a warm rush of emotion as the family goes through all the danger and the turmoil of their final moments in Austria, it is the true story which serves as a reminder that God is always there for us if we but lift our eyes to him.  They lost loved ones, money, home, and country, but continued to have faith and trust God, and he provided for them.


We do not always understand God's ways.  We can demand answers and bewail our misfortunes, feel ignored and misunderstood, and think God is not listening.  But God does have a plan for each one of us.  He is waiting, not for the right feeling, not to hear the perfect words of supplication, but for the moment when we lift our eyes with full faith and trust to him, so that he can lead us in the way he has designed for us.


It is a high mountain to climb, higher than the highest alp, to abandon our own will and allow God to lead us in his way.  But just as he led the Von Trapps through the mortal dangers of a world war and provided them a route to safety, a good life and  a future elsewhere, so too can we be led.


Lift your eyes to God today, and wait upon him for your traveling itinerary.  I guarantee it will be breathtaking.