You can’t pursue social justice and healing over a long period of time without a source of spiritual sustenance, found in spiritual practices.
I don’t mean that everyone who pursues social healing needs to believe in God. I simply mean that the work of true healing and repair can only be done with a humble awareness of our own limitations and needs as well as a source of strength and love that comes from outside ourselves.
My Small and Wonderous Life
A few years ago, I attended an arts festival in our town which began with a geologist. He went back through the millennia, explaining how Connecticut once sat near the equator, with jungle forests and tropical plants. How this land had moved and frozen and thawed and reformed until it became what it is at this moment.
He gave me a glimpse of how small, and how wondrous, my life is. He gave me a sense of both glory and humility in understanding myself and what it might mean to contribute my own small something to this universe.
Spiritual Practices
Many of us want to engage in the work of social healing. To do so, we need practices that keep us humble by reminding us of our place in the cosmos. And we need practices that strengthen and sustain us for the work of repair.
These practices can include meditation and walks in the woods and friendships and self-care.
For me, they also take the shape of prayer and fasting, studying the biblical themes of justice, and receiving the love of God, daily.
For any of us who want to persevere in the work of social justice and healing, for any of us who want to grow in love, we need a source of humility and love outside ourselves.
FREE RESOURCE FOR YOU | How to Receive God’s Love: 5 Ways to Receive the Love of God and Practice Peace
To learn more with Amy Julia:
- S4 E4 | Spiritual Practices That Heal with Rich Villodas
- Four Spiritual Practices That Help Social Justice Stay Grounded in Love
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