In a season of reflecting over the fiftieth anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King Jr's passing, there is a stark image presented by the man himself as he speaks to students from Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 31, 1968 - five days before he was assassinated.
Dr King recounts a story of riding the school bus in the segregation era, having to sit on the back of the bus, the white children sitting at the front. He recalls placing his mind on the front seat and promising himself that his body would be there one day.
That's a passion unbound by the circumstances with which he was presented. He crystallised this following concept in his being:
No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come."
- Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Dr King refused to be identified as someone lesser than someone else. He proves the possibility that we, in our minds, can transcend the milieus we find ourselves in. The mind is unimaginably powerful; invincible when it's indwelt with the thrust of integrity and virtue.
When our mind insists on being held by a vision, no matter how lofty, the heart is encouraged. And when the heart is encouraged, faith, as a process, is inevitable. When faith walks forward with feet adorned with the shoes of courage, it's the forerunner of an anointed destiny.
If we live a life that is full to the brim to the overflowing, we don't resent it. Bitterness only spurns a hope that could otherwise be chosen. If pressures fill our lives, we must live as if change will inevitably come. If it is loneliness, we trust it won't always be that way. If it is grief, we know the sun must rise on some soon horizon. Confusion and chaos may be our present location, but contentment amid such noise assures us of a peace-laden destination.
Contentment begins in the mind resolved to choose hope in the mirage of despair.
Steve Wickham holds Degrees in Science, Divinity, and Counselling. Steve writes at: http://epitemnein-epitomic.blogspot.com.au/ and http://tribework.blogspot.com.au/
Article Source: Finding Contentment in a Chaotic, Confused Life