The January 20th Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday should be a day of giving, working, educating the young on exactly who Martin Luther King Jr. was and what he stood for.  This day was not put in place to just take another day off from work or school.  It was not established to just sit around and do nothing.   Former President Ronald Reagan signed legislation for this holiday back in 1983. This particular day was fought for many, many years back to create a better equality for ALL.  Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke into existence the dreams that he had, the word God had given to him for past, present and future generations.

Let us take this day and dare to be different.  Feed someone today a healthy meal, give someone nourishment to their physical body and to their soul. Give someone a coat, hat, gloves, share a hug, a smile.  Those of you who own restaurants, coffee shops and salons – give someone a free meal, a free hair cut, fresh clothes.  An individual in these establishments can begin to pay for the  person’s meal, coffee, etc. behind you, creating a a domino effect as the start of making a difference!

I remember years ago, a friend I’ve known for over 20 years – she and I shared a common bond – being single parents, we met, lived and ‘survived’ coming from a homeless shelter.  We moved on from there, got ourselves together and went our separate ways, but continue to remain friends to this day.  As she and I continued to remain in touch and share our life experiences, we also began to attend the same church and decided to take it upon ourselves to randomly go to a homeless shelter here in Atlanta to pick up 6-8 men from that shelter in our own personal van(s).  We then brought them to our church and later fed them.  I’ll never forget when a couple of the men, while sitting there eating quietly began crying.  My friend and I thought something happened that we missed or we did something wrong, so we asked them why they were crying.  The one gentleman responded, “I’m just so happy today.  No one has ever done this for me.”

This is what this holiday is about – feeding someone’s body, spirit and mind and doing the work and making dreams become a reality!