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Topic: Mountains (09/20/04)
TITLE: Don’t Climb It – MOVE It! By Zillah Williams 09/24/04 |
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I enjoy the musical as much as anyone, and there are good ideals in it, but it seems to me that this particular song turns our focus in on ourselves, our ambitions, our own inner resources, and away from reliance on God our Father.
I first read the book, "The Trapp Family Singers", some time in the 1950’s and, when in Salzburg with a friend, I tried to persuade her to climb up to Maria’s monastery with me. From the base of what seemed like a mountain but what was probably only a small hill, there appeared to be no easily discernible way to the top and, as my friend hadn’t read the book, and the musical hadn’t yet brought the story before the world, I gave up.
When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to increase their faith, He told them that only a tiny amount of faith is needed to physically move mountains. He said: "Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, "Go jump in the lake" – no shuffling or shilly-shallying – and it’s as good as done." Mark 11:23 (The Message). Or, as the RSV says: "Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him."
A character in an old film (played, I think, by Cary Grant), in commenting on someone’s questionable behaviour, said that what was needed was "a little less of the exuberant ‘Whah Hoo!’, and a little more of the ‘Tch Tch Tch’. Perhaps, in the same way, we need to steer the energy and enthusiasm of young Christians away from the world’s dangerous "you can do it" mentality, and encourage them to ask the Father for more faith to move those mountains of difficulty.
Zillah Williams
384 words