This picture was snapped by a patron in line at Dutch Brothers Coffee.
Today, our country celebrates and reflects on the life and the message of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I had to read his, “I Have A Dream,” speech for an English 101 class as a freshman in college. I remember being incredibly moved by his words written some 25 years earlier.
I suppose messages worth remembering, like those based on unity, love and peace, have a timeless staying power. Humanity often finds itself in desperate need to hear them.
Since Dr. King was a man of God, I’m sure he was well aware that Jesus told His disciples that the two greatest commandments were to first, love God and then to love one another. I suspect that Dr. King knew that we can’t truly love one another without loving God first because Christian love is different from mere human love.
The ability to truly love others is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We can only get that from loving God through Christ first.
I came across a story on my Facebook news feed that I found to be a perfect illustration of Dr. King’s dream and I felt led to share it today.
There were some employees at a coffee shop in Vancouver, Washington, who were doing their daily job. They were millennials. Most of us have encountered members of this group in retail establishments. They often have the slacker, completely self-absorbed reputation. This group proved to be different.
The owner of the shop instructed her employees to always take care of their customers.
In this case, a woman came through the drive-thru who was very upset. The guy at the window, went to the trouble to find out why. He had seen her before. She had been in before. She shared that she had just lost her 37-year old husband the night before.
The employees knew that they had to do something to help her. They gave her, her order for free and then they reached through the window and held her hand and prayed with her. The customer in the car behind them was so moved, she took a picture and posted it. It went viral.
As I write this, it has had over 65 million views.
When the employees were later interviewed, they said they had to do something, so they, “took the time and took her hand.”
How many people would have taken her money and let her drive on? How many people would have felt badly for her, but let her go anyway? How many people of faith would have actually reached out to her and touched her and prayed with her? How many people would have “taken the time and taken her hand?” How many people in the car behind would have snapped a picture of God’s love at work?
Clearly, the Holy Spirit was at work.
This is a beautiful story of faith at work all on its own. The fact that I saw it for the first time, the day before MLK day and that it shows people of different races praying together, is also the Holy Spirit at work. The story took place last March.
Dr. King had a dream of unity. He had a dream of us coming together despite our outward difference in skin color. Through Christ, we can achieve that and I’m happy to report that despite what we may have heard, Dr. King’s dream lives on.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂