"I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to
go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised
land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that
we as a people will get to the promised land."  Dr.  Martin Luther King Jr.

To say that adolescence is a difficult time is such an understatement. As we find our way through the world, those early double digits are filled with challenge, rebellion, discovery, pain and incredible growth. Most of this realization, unfortunately, only comes with age. Learning to be our true selves is a tangled web that deserves to be held lovingly and gently until we find our place on the path of our life, in our place on the planet.

I’ve been forced to think about my own adolescence today while we, as a nation, look back on forty years ago to the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. As I think about those times, the Viet Nam War, the assassinations of Dr. King, John and Robert Kennedy, all the turmoil that filled the world, I marvel at all we learned and yet all we failed to realize. I believe that if I could have projected ahead from my wide-eyed love of the world to this very day, my hopeful, faithful, optimistic self would have seen the world changed more perceptively than it is. Peace would have been at hand. We would never be involved in a war again the way we were in Viet Nam, without hope of an end in sight. People would have learned to talk things out, seen wisdom in the diversity of who we are, stopped killing each other. Adolescence carries its own set of rose colored glasses.

I believe it is those very lenses that allows those who work for peace and justice to continue to do so. Dr. King said: "Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase." Those I know who are doing the work of justice and peace in the world, get up every morning and do just that. They get out of bed, walk out the door, listen to people’s stories, help them find a safe home, a job, a lawyer, an advocate, food, a bus pass,schools for their children, an interpreter. They do this regardless of the color of the person’s skin, the language that first comes off their tongue,what their past has held. Someplace within each of these people who work long hours for very little money, lives the spirit of what I remember from those turbulent days, when our heroes were felled and our world seemed to be spinning out of control, a spirit that was inspired by the dream of the promised land. In this land all would dwell in peace and harmony, and humans would work and live together, recovering the Eden we had lost.

Like Moses before him, Dr. King did not get to see the promised land. He was only able to walk with the people toward it. And here we are today, forty years later, still walking. We have seen glimpses of hope, there have been baby steps toward understanding. And yet we keep on, inspired over and over again by his call, his commitment, his sacrifice. Across the years it is as if his voice continues: "Almost always the creative, dedicated minority has made the world better."

God grant us courage………………..

Have a blessed weekend.