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“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today, the third Monday in January, is Martin Luther King Jr. day in the US. It is "…the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service – a 'day on, not a day off,'", according to the Corporation for National and Community Service.
A leader of the civil rights movement in the US, he was assassinated in 1968. Dr. King was most famously known for his speech titled, I have a dream, a speech that moved the nation. There is a less known work by Dr. King however that I have gone back to, studied, and read over and over again, that moves my personal humanity to action. It is called, “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life.” I first found a copy of this speech in a text book from college called, Foundations: Society, Challenge and Change, a compilation of varying essays put together by Editor James V. Rudnick.
I focus on this piece today because, if I am to acknowledge death, I must also acknowledge that my time of living is limited. That drives me to ask myself what I want my life to be about. Even more so since my husband died. Settling for nothing less than seeking what I was created to do, and be, is one of the characteristics that was magnified in me, after the death of my husband. Dr. King’s life showed the impact one individual can have when they choose nothing less than fully engaging in their life’s purpose.
The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life examines the length, breadth, and height of life. Dr. King based this sermon on the 21st chapter of the book of Revelations, when the apostle John, who was in captivity, had a vision of the future city of God.
Dr. King observes, “…the new city of God, this city of ideal humanity, is not an unbalanced entity but it is complete on all sides.”
Keith Green, the musician, was only 28 when he died. Christ, the Messiah was 33. Martin Luther King Jr. was just shy of 40. Perhaps I will live to see 100. Perhaps I won’t. Whatever the case, I want to make my life count, and losses like these help me focus on the value of the limited time I have in this world.
Dr. King summarizes his interpretation of the three dimensions this way:
“The length of life as we shall think of it here is not its duration or its longevity, but it is the push of a life forward to achieve its personal ends and ambitions. It is the inward concern for one’s own welfare. The breadth of life is the outward concern for the welfare of others. The height of life is the upward reach for God. These are the three dimensions of life, and without the three being correlated, working harmoniously together, life is incomplete.”
He describes life as a triangle, with the individual on one end, others on another, and God at the top.
Today I am going to focus most on the length of life. If I look at my past I see that I had put a strong emphasis on the height of life, reaching for God, and then the breadth of life, reaching out to others. The time I have been granted over the past year has enabled me to focus on the length of life, reaching inward, to discover what I was created for, so I can bring all three dimensions together to best serve humanity, and God, while fulfilling my own life’s purpose.
The following is a section of Dr. King’s sermon that I have highlighted in my book, and revisited many times over the years.
“…every individual has a responsibility to be concerned about himself enough to discover what he is made for. After he discovers his calling he should set out to do it with all of the strength and power in his being. He should do it as if God Almighty called him at this particular moment in history to do it. He should seek to do his
