I want to share with you an email that I received from Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is a timely message that will encourage you to focus on the things that really matter in this life.
October, 2008 Friends, I’d like to share a recent dream with you. This is October 2008, early in the morning. I am away on a spiritual retreat. While sleeping, I dreamed of two converging streams. One stream was the economy, the other stream was a deep, dark, stream with a powerful current. This stream was the spirit, whether of God or man, I could not see. This stream was a mystery. As I woke up, I realized that the streams represented today’s dilemmas, the economy being the problem, the spirit the solution.
The economy stream was heading towards a huge vortex, where other streams were converging; broken marriages, drug abuse, AIDS/STD, failing school systems, sexual abuse and sexual dysfunctions, houses, businesses. I looked for abortion, knowing it had to be somewhere in the mix, but it was hidden. Major institutions were whirling in the vortex too, Wall Street, Planned Parenthood, banking systems, political systems, and sadly, what appeared to be religious institutions. I looked for the Body of Christ, and found her in the spirit stream. Marriage, Life and Family are in the spirit stream, guided and guarded by Love. I have a dream, it is in my genes. My Uncle Martin, my grandfather, Daddy King had dreams too. Martin’s dream was for the nations, one of Granddaddy’s dreams saved me from abortion, another saved my son from the same fate.
This particular dream about the streams comes in the wake of a growing discontent in my heart with our present times. The Body of Christ is in the spirit stream. The spirit stream is more powerful than the vortex, yet it is dark and mysterious, and most people don’t trust what they can’t see. Yet, those who are investing their prayers and yes, their money into the spirit are seeing something amazing, their efforts are staying afloat, not sinking, not converging into the vortex. The spirit stream converges somewhere too, it flows steadily into a river.
There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God, the holy habitation of ‘Elyon. (Psalm 46:4)
So, this is a time to trust the Spirit of the Living God, to communicate with God in spirit and in truth. Our spirits can converge with His, if we are prayerful and wise. This could be a time to invest in the spirit and not in flesh and material things. But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33) End of the dream.
By building on things which are eternal, we can find hope in this present time of trouble. The thing is, we must not lose sight of moral priorities in the face of economic stress. Yes, these are troubled times, times of trouble, we need to anchor our faith in Jesus, through His love, so we remember what’s important. What the current economic meltdown should teach us is that our hope is not in the things of this earth, but in God. If financial pressures cause us to stop loving our neighbors, to think only of ourselves, we will lose much more than money. If we stop giving to charity, cease donating our time to help others, or, in the extreme, abort a baby for financial reasons, we literally sacrifice the eternal for the temporary.
Ultimately, what brings us the greatest rewards or the worst scars are the choices we make that have spiritual consequences. In the end, we don’t look back at our lives and think of refinanced mortgages or stock trades, but of those we loved. Let us trust God and love Him by loving others in good times and bad.
As my uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The time is always right to do what is right.” God bless you.
Blessings and prayers, Dr. Alveda King Pastoral Associate, Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries Niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
You can find out more about Alveda and her powerful ministry at: King For America
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