Do Something for Others

At morning prayer on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we listened to the following stirring words by Dr. King. He clearly was a man who “listened and inclined the ear of his heart” to scripture and used it as a guide for how to live. When I heard these words, I thought, “This is what it means to be a Christian”—though somehow, we tend to lose sight of Jesus’ call to service and sacrifice as we get wrapped up in our own day-to-day world.

Dr. King’s words lead me to ask myself, “Who do I choose to identify with? Who do I choose to give my life to? What way am I going? How am I going to respond to the voice I myself have heard saying, ‘Do something for others’?” It’s a worthwhile examination of conscious at the midpoint of the first month of the year—the setting of an intention that can transcend the preoccupations and focus on self that often fill our days.

I choose to identify with the underprivileged.

I choose to identify with the poor.

I choose to give my life for the hungry.

I choose to give my life for those

     who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity.

I choose to live for and with those who find themselves

     seeing life as a long, desolate corridor with no exit sign.

This is the way I’m going.

If it means suffering a little bit,

     I’m going that way.

If it means sacrificing,

     I’m going that way.

If it means dying for them,

     I’m going that way,

     because I heard a voice saying,

     “Do something for others.”

                                            

                                                                                                                      — Martin Luther King Jr.