The other night I put on the Sound of Music just before Bruce got off work (that would be 5:30 pm for those who like the details in a narrative). The girls and I were singing My Favorite Things while pretending to be on a carousel (as one does) so I went to play the song on our speakers because Julie Andrews sings it better than I do! Once the remote was in my hands and I was getting the music set up on our tv, I pivoted and selected the movie itself just for fun.
I knew there was no way my girls would be sitting down for a 3 hour movie and I honestly didn’t want them too. Instead it became like a football game, filling the background of our home until bedtime. The girls played in the playroom, I made dinner, Bruce changed diapers, Thorin had chewed on toys (and cheerios), we all ate together at the table, I rocked Thorin to sleep, and Bruce took the girls up for bed all to The Sound of Music playing in our living room. As I was loading the dishwasher after Bruce had gone upstairs with the girls, the downstairs was eerily quiet except for the Sound of Music. I could hear it from the other room as I put away dinner and wiped down the table. It’s a movie I’ve seen so many times I didn’t need to see the screen to know what was happening. The Climb Every Mountain Reprise came on and I could see the Von Trapps in my mind as they made their escape with the sweeping mountain views and the blowing wildflowers.
A dream that will need
Climb Every Mountain – Sound of Music
All the love you can give
Every day of your life
For as long as you live
And in the middle of loading the dishwasher, my eyes filled with tears. I finally got it. – A dream that will need all the love you can give, everyday of your life, for as long as you live – Motherhood.
Maria chooses motherhood. In fact, the first time we hear this song is in the middle of that choice – of the staying to be a nun or going to be the wife and mother. Mother Abbess sings to Maria to encourage her in the choice she is making but also remind her of the weight of her choice – the dream that will need all the love she can give, every day of her life, for as long as she lives.
Motherhood is an everyday job. It is a gift and a responsibility that I will hold every day of my life for as long as I live. It is a dream fulfilled, cherished, and one that requires so much of me. All the love that I can give.
It is a heavy responsibility we carry as mothers to pour out day after day but we do not have to do it on our own. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19) In abiding in Christ, we have the reserves to pour out each day because God IS love – “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” ( 1 John 4:7) It is in knowing Him and spending time with Him that we can reflect Him back to those around us. Most especially our children who rely on us for everything. It is true they will grow – out of their need for diaper changes, naps, snacks from the top shelf, rides to soccer practice, and even our homes – but they will forever remain our children. And we, the mothers, will have an impact on their lives for better or worse. So let it be love.
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for all flesh is like grass
1 Peter 1: 22-25
and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.
PS: Photographs taken primarily by the girls, some me, and a couple by dad! Just raising photographers over here!