shake the dust off your feet

the sound of music is one of my favorite movies. as a family, we would watch it during every eight-hour car trip to florida, probably because my parents knew it would keep us entertained for a solid three hours. we sang all of the songs (loudly) and knew almost all of the lines.

i was reminded today of one of my favorite parts of the movie, when the reverend mother speaks with maria in her office. it's likely that maria thought she was going to get a talking-to about her singing in the abbey, but in fact, the reverend mother tells her she will be leaving them for a while. suddenly, her entire life changes. she was going to be a nun... but everything she's assumed about her future is no longer intact, and what she thought was God's will seems to no longer be His plan. the abbey is the only place she feels she belongs, yet she is essentially given no choice but to follow another route. it seems God has, out of nowhere, thrown a curveball.

as she leaves the abbey, maria looks back and says one of the famous lines in the movie, "when the Lord closes a door... somewhere He opens a window."

i think that so many people latch onto this phrase because it is, essentially, a statement of faith and of hope. maria has absolutely no idea what awaits her at the house, but still she chooses to believe that God is going to do something good, that though He has said no to the abbey for the time being, He is doing a new thing somewhere else. it doesn't necessarily mean she'll never be back there. "but for now," He seems to be saying, "I'm doing something else. I'm sending you somewhere different. I know this isn't what you expected, I know this isn't what you thought you heard Me say, but I've got it under control." though she must've felt afraid, uncertain, and disappointed, she changes her perspective. she sees the new path not as second-string plan but instead as her primary route, as the thing that God is providing for in this time. she chooses to trust that God shut the door Himself, that He is the one who is opening the window, a window she never knew was there.

it's hard to step out in faith when we have no idea what is ahead. but God is the lamp to our feet and the light to our path. as my college pastor explained, this means that God is giving light to the places right in front of our feet so that we can walk in the dark. it doesn't mean he has illuminated the entire road, for years and years to come. it simply means He is providing us with what we need to walk on in the next few moments.

so onward i walk. not by sight, but by faith and by the Spirit. Jesus Himself said, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the Light of life." (john 8.12)

it's officially time for pressing on.