I was sitting in my car one winter day 40 or 50 years ago, watching snow land on the windows. Remembering that I’d heard every snowflake is different from every other snowflake, I studied them. They were tiny, sparkling gems of uniqueness.
Then I thought about every person in the world having unique fingerprints. We have ten fingers and ten toes – each one different from all the others. And all the millions of people who have ever lived have had 10 unique fingerprints and 10 unique toe prints.
What an incredible capacity for variation our Creator has!
Well, He is omniscient and omnipotent, so maybe His ability to create a vast array of unique items isn’t SO amazing. But what about this? How much must He LOVE variety to create billions upon trillions of unique snowflakes over the millennia?
Plus, plants and animals come in such a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and behaviors that scientists have had to develop a complex system of nomenclature to catalog them.
What about geologic formations – rivers, lakes, mountains, islands, oceans?
Sunrises and sunsets?
Colors?
Our world consists of a dazzling array of varieties and even singularities. And all are provided by the Lord God, Who must be a Lover of diversity.
The Downside of Diversity
Is it any wonder then, that people are unique? We look different, behave differently, think differently, and have different emotional reactions.
Considering our differences – some of them vast in size – it is no surprise that humans clash with each other. We clash often and, sometimes, intensely. But here’s the kicker – every person on this planet is just as valuable as every other person. We are all created in the image of God.
Skin color is one inconsequential way people differ. But, for some ridiculous reason, ethnicity is historically the root of some of the world’s worst clashes.
And the United States is no different. At the birth of this nation, in the Declaration of Independence, our forefathers trumpeted the equality of all men and their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yet Blacks and Native Americans (not to mention women) were excluded from this noble proclamation.
Today, 245 years later, in spite of laws, marches, protests, and even a Civil War, pockets of bitterness and hatred, based on skin color, still exist in the U.S. There’s no denying that injustices still occur and must be dealt with.
Covert Source of Conflict
However, I do NOT believe that the bitter feuding and acrid accusations flying around the country today are coming from real Americans. I believe they are generated from occult globalists who are running our country and manipulating the media. These monsters hate our country and our freedoms. Racial unrest is one of the diabolical schemes they are using to try to destroy our nation.
Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want to. But, at the same time, don’t fall for blatant demands for hatred and violence between races. I don’t know of any Whites who hate Blacks or any Blacks who hate Whites. I know people of both skin colors whom I love and admire. I bet you do too.
Saturday, January 15, 2022, was the 93rd anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Today, we celebrate and honor him for his invaluable contributions to the peace and prosperity of our nation.
Dr. King was a visionary, and the United States today is sorely in need of his vision. King, gazing on hatred and animosity, envisioned love and peaceful protest. He wasn’t blind to the ill treatment of his people, but he also wasn’t blind to the folly of vengeance and violence.
A Dream Worth Dying For
Please, don’t let vicious secretive powers fan the flames of racial hatred in your heart. No reasonable person denies that Blacks were treated shamefully in the early days of the United States. But don’t forget: White abolitionists made slavery a hot political issue. Men like John Brown died for the cause. And White men and women were even willing to go to war in 1861 to support the Emancipation Proclamation. Thousands died in the Civil War.
Why did they do it?
The South was fighting for their property – they considered slaves property – their economy, and their way of life. But what was the North fighting for? And dying for? What about the southerners who participated in the Underground Railroad? What was their motivation?
How about this – what if they had a dream?
What if they had a dream of a time and place where every person would be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character? *
What if they had a dream of little Black boys and Black girls joining hands with little White boys and White girls and walking together as sisters and brothers? *
What if they had “a dream deeply rooted in the American 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’ ”? *
What if they had a dream of a “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!’ ”? *
A Dream Worth Sharing
Probably not one of those brave Union soldiers or their family members could have expressed it as eloquently as did Martin Luther King, Jr., on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. But I have an idea they had similar dreams. They were willing to bleed and die for their dreams.
And you can bet they weren’t fighting to end slavery because slaves were Black. They were fighting to end slavery because slaves were human beings, created in the image of God.
Today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let’s share Dr. King’s dream. Don’t trample it in the dust. He died for his dream. Many others have too.
Sure, we’re different. That’s not a cause for anger and hatred. That’s a cause for celebration. God made us different, and He thinks we’re beautiful, every one!
***
*References to or excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech
Here’s a link to a pdf version of Dr. King’s beautiful, powerful, and precious “I Have a Dream” speech.
And here’s a link to the video of Dr. King himself, giving his historic, inspirational speech. If this speech doesn’t give you goosebumps, you’re not paying attention.
Thank you to revzack on pixabay for the featured image.
Here are links to my blog indexes, which will make it quick and easy for you to find another post to read.
Blog Index – Lists blogs 1-35
Blog Index 2 – Lists blogs 36 to the latest post