I took the above picture during a week-long contemplative retreat at St Bernard’s Monastery in Cullman, Alabama.

The reason for the title? Besides the fact that we will be having a service for wholeness Sunday night at the church I serve? Besides headlines from Ferguson, MO and places like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia? Besides the vitriol I see too often on the pages of Social Media?

Listening to the speech that Martin Luther King, Jr delivered on this day 51 years ago made me think about a lot of things.

The years pass and yet the dream is still out of reach… Hopeless?
The fact that the dream is still alive in growing pockets around the world… Hopeful!

When I need to renew… When I need to be in God’s healing place despite the messiness of life… I go…

To woods and trails such as the one pictured above…
To…