A Thank-You

"I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers."

We were watching Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream Speech last night, all 6 kids listening, littlest ones on our laps. I listened with tears in my eyes and I held Hope tight.

We said thank-you to God and to Rev Martin Luther King Jr. It was a short lesson but one Aidan and Annah took to heart. If changes had not been made these two curly-headed toddlers would not be a part of our family. Praise God, changes took place! Is there still discrimination, yes, does evil still abound, yes, and that will not change until Jesus reigns, but praise God, changes took place!

~"I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nationwhere they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. "

~"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."

~"We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

~"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

~"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood."

~"This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

~"Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."