Ok… there are a million quotes out there today.  Facebook, in particular, explodes with the profound words of  Martin Luther King, Jr.  I love it.  His words, his message and his grace;  all etched in stone along the path we walk today.  Just as in his life, I feel that his words have a greater understanding of the state of our world.  I wish for that guidance for us all…  I wish for there to be followers of a peaceful person… and I wish for there to be a peaceful person to ignite such a movement as his.

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”               -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now, read that again.  Not only was he ahead of his time in word, he was ahead of his time in truth.  How RELEVANT is that statement today?!  Let’s break it down.

“racism and war”…”peace and brotherhood”…”unarmed and unconditional”…

I feel that if it is relevant to you to hold onto history, then it should also be relevant to you to embrace the present.  Would Martin Luther King, Jr. do the same?  Wasn’t he doing just that??  Not only was he embracing the present, but he was also looking further ahead with hope.  Yes, there is an awful history of wrongdoing based on the color of one’s skin.  Yes, there is an awful history of wrongdoing based on one’s gender.  Yes, there is a history of wrongdoing based on one’s identification.  BUT, has not the pendulum swung in the opposite direction as it once was in history?

I think yes.

I think that, while we still have a ways to go, we have come so far in “acceptance” and “tolerance” and “love.”  Why, then, do so many remain stagnant in the past?  Why do we remain stuck in oppression, when we are no longer oppressed?  How is it even possible to embrace the hope of the future and the reality of the present if we are still holding onto what once was.

What would MLK say?

This man was a pastor, he held a doctorate, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  Not sure about you, but I think he knew his S#*!… So, perhaps y’all, we should listen.

His words, his “famous” quotes, still ring true in our present.  It is up to us to apply them towards the future, and not get stuck in the past.

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”                                                           -Martin Luther King, Jr.

I mean, duh.  It’s not the “woe is me”… but the “woe is us” that makes change possible.  To continue to segregate our hearts based on skin color is simply fueling the fire of racism.  Perhaps if we all looked in the mirror and saw no color in our own selves then we would, instead, fan the flames of peace.  “Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.”                            -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Can y’all freakin’ imagine if our Lord saw us in color?

And, ladies… we’ve done it.  We’ve made our selves known.  We’re bada** and proud of it.  There is nothing that a man can do, which we cannot.  Talk with your actions and let them be your proof.  Marches and chants and ^@%*^! hats just make us all look a little crazy.  “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”                                                                                    -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Can you imagine his CHURCH?!  Here’s the cool thing: you’re in it.  His church was the world.  Literally, the world.  His words are needed today more than ever and he is still preachin’ from heaven.  If we could all just tune in to him.  Listen when it’s quiet and hear what is being said.  And, for the love of God, turn off the *@^% television.  You will not find him preachin’ from there.

Let us all take in this day, not as a day off of school or work;  but as a chance to tune into our past in the best way.  He was a visionary, not stuck in the oppression of his present.  He was forward thinking in every way, speaking with hope, untied to the emotions of suppression.                                                                                                                                                          “We may have all come in different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.”                                    -Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”                                                                                                                        -Galatians 3:28                                                                                                                                        -The “I have a dream” speech -Martin Luther King, Jr.

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