Monday, 28 August 2006 - A vision, a hope and a dream

Dear God:

Today, I am thankful for a vision, a hope and a dream.

I never tire of listening to the recording of Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering this speech or reading the transcript.

(On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his now famous "I have a dream" speech in Washington, D.C. I was nine years old at the time.)

I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted,
every hill and mountain shall be made low,
and the crooked places will be made straight,
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return.
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 we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning
My country, 'tis of thee
Sweet land of liberty
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring.
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true.
So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring
from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city,
we will be able to speed up the day when all of God's children,
black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles,
Protestants and Catholics,
will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,
"Free at last! thank God almighty, we are free at last!"

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

For this blessing, I am grateful.

Amen.