It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in America.
On this day, we honor the celebrated civil rights leader for his contributions and achievements. But it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t take time to truly reflect on his messages.
I want to share with you one of my favorite quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
After the past year–a year we all experienced in unique ways, one that presented so many challenges and even some unexpected blessings–hope is more important than ever. I’ve heard so many people saying we’re living in a crazy world (I’ve said as much, myself). It feels that way, doesn’t it?
But I’d like to invite you to join me in choosing hope.
They say bringing a child into the world is the ultimate display of hope.
And today, while I was reading about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and came across this quote, I realized why: as parents, we raise our children hoping they can make this world a better place … hoping they will take the values we instill in them and contribute to society, to other people, to the world.
Seeing everything that’s going on in the world, lots of parents have lamented, “What kind of world are our kids growing up in? So much is being taken from them.”
It’s certainly easy to feel that way when we imagine our perfect little babies growing up in this chaos.
But, what if we choose hope?
What if we believe that our children are exactly what the world needs? That the creativity they show in their drawings and the reasoning they show in their arguments and the caring they show with their friends will heal the world?
When we look at the issue from this perspective, we become empowered. We become empowered to teach our children to be the light Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of. To be the love that drives out hate. To be the next carriers of hope?
If we want the world to be a better place, we cannot give up. Yes, we can accept the finite disappointment we feel about the way the world looks right now. But we cannot give up hope. Once we give up hope, we’ve lost.
Today, in honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., consider this: with hope, we can heal the world.
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