"Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens ..."

... aint gonna fly in the Vienna we know! These are not things we ever see and certainly not some of our "favorite things" ... sorry Julie Andrews!

For those of you less fortunate souls who have never had the priviledge of watching "The Sound of Music" you are left out of the loop. In the famed musical, Julie Andrews plays a character by the name of Maria. She, a drop out nun trying to find her purpose in life, goes to live with the mother-less Von Trap family. In her desperation on a stormy night to get some sleep and quiet frightened children, she begins singing a song listing her favorite things. The opening line of Roders and Hammerstien's masterpiece goes ... "rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens". Then, Maria pushes through the sadness, discovering all of their favorite things and life is happy and carefree again ... until the dictator but oddly handsome father (played by Christopher Plummer) crashes the party. In a nutshell, you have just experienced our fast approaching first year in Vienna, Austria.

The long, long, long, long, long, (did I mention it's been a long winter?) season has crashed our party like the dictator but oddly handsome father in the movie ... letting the sails out of our hypothetically stormy night but singing a song of our favorite things type experience in Vienna. It seems just as life was getting comfortable, the weather changed and now we are being rudely awakened by the harshness of our culture.

However, on this Sunday morning, as I look outside on my cold, grey, snow covered garden, watching it snow some more, I will not give into the tyranny of the season! No, no say I! I am going to saturate this blog post with all of our favorite things in spite of the cold, grey, snow covered and snowing some more outside circumstances! In fact, all this thinking on the bright side is cheering me up and warming my insides! I think this should be a principle to live by: "when life is cold, think heat" ... or better yet, "when life gives you lemons make lemonade" ... but I think that's taken. What about ... "think on the bright side" or "the sun will come out tomorrow" ... all good but previously taken. Hmmm ... I could go on and on but let's put an end to this rambling.

I love what the New Living Translation of God's Word says in Proverbs 15:13 "A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit." Then, in verse 15 it says this: for the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual fest. And then, finally, verse 17 sums it up by saying ... a bowl of soup with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate.

Yes, our city is beautiful. Yes, it's ranked one of the top 3 places to live in the world. Yes, it's a number one tourist area in Europe. Yes, it has great public transportation and socialized health care. However, here's the reality. Just like in "The Sound of Music" we live in a culture that is constantly being reminded to quit singing about their favorite things, buck up, and face the storm. With the addition of the grey weather, and lack of hope in a Savior, this makes for a rather glum outlook. Most are broken hearted, despondent, facing the trouble of life without hope every day and eating steak with those they hate.

I'm making a public vow to have a glad and happy heart. I want to experience life being a continual feast. I want to have many, many bowls of soup with those I love! I want to be just like the drop-out nun (only not blonde, married, have 3 kids ...ok, so it's a stretch but let's roll with it!) trying to find her purpose in life by singing songs of my favorite things. I have an advantage. Knowing Christ gives me purpose. Christ in me enables me to not only notice the rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens but have the courage to sing about them! This week, look around. What are the rain drops and whiskers in your week ... do you dare to sing about them? I dare you!!