How do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you solve a problem … any problem? In the Sound of Music, Maria starts out as a conundrum. She was at the convent, it was a good place, a GREAT place … a NOBLE place. She was answering to a higher calling and had dedicated her life to the greater good. But she did not fit in. Talk about a square peg in a round hole. She tried. Her heart was in the right place, she had the best intentions – but that was not enough. It never is. Her family was probably proud that she was taking this route, but it was not her place. It just wasn’t
So when this happens, after it happens … what do you do? Maria could have kept on trying to fit in because what would people say if she quit the convent??? No one does that and she really wanted to dedicate her life to serving God and others. Thankfully, she was willing (eventually) to open her mind to exploring serving in other ways. That willingness is what ultimately creates this great movie.
So Maria went on to explore this new world. A captain with SEVEN children … no big deal, maybe. She started to envision a different future than she originally planned – fun and singing with the children, sewing them beautiful clothes, creating beautiful things. It made perfect sense to her – and to most of us. But she met with HEAVY resistance; from the captain, from the woman in love with the captain and then there was that kiss!
She was here to raise the children, not seduce their father!!! And besides, she was technically still a nun. A nun!!! She had failed woefully, she had to get out of there. HAD TO! And that’s when she ran away to the convent.
But the convent was not her place anymore. What do you do when you meet with resistance; with heavy resistance. Where do you run to? Where do you go for wisdom? Maria ran back to the convent – and she found wisdom, she found strength. Where are you prone to run to? What do you typically find in that place? Is that a place that needs to change or is it good for you?
Maria needed to examine and re-examine. She had to ask herself the hard questions. Then she had to tell herself the truth. She had to decide what was most important – in the big scheme of things. She had to make a decision. Be miserable or be happy? Dare I???
And then she came home … she found peace; she was no longer running, no longer a conundrum, no longer a “problem”; she had found her place in the world – and it was a beautiful thing.
She had grown. Not because she was seeking growth for the sake of it, but because in order to make it to the other side, she had to grow and get to know herself better. She had to make the decisions that would change her life and enable her to follow the path that of her soul.
Are you ready to follow yours?