A Day On, Not a Day Off

Cedar Valley News – January 17, 2026
A Day On, Not a Day Off
By: Dan Larson
From the fictional town of Cedar Valley, where characters from Quiet Echo continue to respond to real-world events.

On Monday, millions of Americans will have the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The question is what we’ll do with it.

Dr. King asked one question more than any other: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” It wasn’t rhetorical. He expected an answer.

In 1994, Congress designated the King holiday as a national day of service—”a day on, not a day off.” The idea was simple: honor the man by living his message. Don’t just remember what he said. Do what he did.

This year’s theme from The King Center is “Building Community, Uniting a Nation the Nonviolent Way.” It’s a bold phrase in a divided time. But Dr. King was never interested in easy unity—the kind that papers over real differences. He was interested in the hard work of building what he called the “Beloved Community,” a society where justice replaces injustice and love replaces fear.

That kind of community doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when people show up.

I’ve been thinking about this all week. George wrote on Tuesday about neighbors in Los Angeles who helped each other through the fires—knocking on doors, evacuating the elderly, putting out spot fires with garden hoses. Chloe wrote about the hours we spend staring at screens instead of looking at each other. The thread running through both pieces is the same: presence matters. Showing up matters.

Dr. King understood that. He didn’t just give speeches. He marched. He sat at lunch counters. He walked into danger alongside people who had every reason to be afraid. His theology was incarnational—God made flesh, love made visible, faith put into action.

“Everybody can be great,” he said, “because everybody can serve.”

Not everybody can preach. Not everybody can lead a movement. But everybody can serve. That’s the democracy of the gospel—no special credentials required. Just a willing heart and a few hours of your time.

Here in Cedar Valley, there’s no shortage of ways to serve on Monday. The food pantry always needs volunteers. The senior center could use visitors. The parks could use cleanup crews. None of it is glamorous. Most of it won’t make the news. But all of it matters.

I think about my own faith tradition. In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin tells his people that when we serve our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God. Service isn’t separate from worship—it is worship. The two cannot be divided.

Dr. King, a Baptist preacher steeped in the prophetic tradition, would have agreed. He saw no distinction between the spiritual and the social. Justice was not a political preference; it was a divine mandate. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” he wrote from a Birmingham jail cell. “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

That garment is still being woven. Every act of service adds a thread.

I know the temptation on a holiday. Sleep in. Catch up on errands. Watch something mindless. There’s nothing wrong with rest—the Sabbath teaches us that. But Dr. King’s holiday was never meant to be a day of rest. It was meant to be a day of purpose.

Here’s my invitation: find one way to serve on Monday. Just one. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. Help a neighbor. Visit someone lonely. Pick up trash at the park. Write a letter to someone who needs encouragement. The size of the act matters less than the heart behind it.

Dr. King dreamed of a nation where people would be judged by the content of their character. Character is built in small moments—in the choices we make when no one is watching, in the service we offer when no one is keeping score.

Monday is a day on, not a day off.

What are you doing for others?

This editorial is part of the fictional Cedar Valley News series. While the people and town are fictional, the national events they reflect on are real.

Want to know the full story behind Cedar Valley? Teresa, Caleb, Dan, and the community you’ve come to know in these editorials first came together in Quiet Echo: When Loud Voices Divide, Quiet Ones Bring Together. Discover how a small town found its way from fear to fellowship—one quiet act of courage at a time. Available on Amazon: https://bit.ly/3ME4nSs

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