"I Have A Dream"

Today, I am posting a part of this historical speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ... it is truly an affirmation. If you would like to hear the audio version go to: www.theclubmantra.com

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ...

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and 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."²

This is our hope, and 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.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with 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.

And 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 snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes 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.

And when this happens, when we allow 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 that 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! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

January 1, 2008 & Making it Great in 2008

I rejoice and give thanks for this New Year, and I feel a sense of the new-ness in my mind as it creates within me a great enthusiasm for 2008. Knowing that All Is God and All Is Mind, I know that the ideas that come to me for acceptance in the New Year, are from the Mind of God. And in this realization, I can know that everything that I accept as mine to do, is done successfully ... and everything that I accept as mine to have, I have. There are no obstructions to my Good for I depend on Principle, and Principle alone, to do that which requires to be done to prepare my Good for me, through me. I keep faith with my ideas, knowing that my faith creates within me the capacity to accept a far greater Good than I have in the past. I know that nothing in my past can surpass the Good that is mine now. I accept that the Good that I desire is mine to share, and I gladly share it with all those who enter my experience of life. My vision for a greater life experience is a vision for everyone and I know that as I move into this new experience of Life, that countless numbers of people will share in this vision. I have great faith that as I use the Power of God to express that which God has given me to do, that all things and all people necessary for the fulfillment of this vision are attracted to me in consciousness. I have the consciousness of great success and the consciousness of great prosperity ... and combined with my ever-lasting love for all the people in the world, including myself ... I know that my consciousness is filled with the Spirit of God. My action in mind is a leap of faith ... and I know that this leap will cause me to land on my feet with the greatest of ease, expressing, living, and enjoying the best of times and the best of everything, now! And so it is.

Keep the faith!
Rev. Bates