The Art of Justice

This fall, I had the opportunity to donate some pieces of artwork to the Stanislaus Family Justice Center as a part of a benefit program called "The Art of Justice". The idea was to choose a piece of artwork created by the children who come to the Justice Center and participate in art programs as a means for identifying and working through experiences of injustice. 

As I walked around the room viewing the artwork that had been done by these incredible children, my eye kept catching on a piece done by a 15 year old girl. The exercise is called "Putting Yourself Back Together" and takes children through the practice of identifying the different emotions that they have inside and writing them into different puzzle pieces that are placed inside the outline of a person. 

After having done the exercise, her comment was "I have a lot of angry feelings". 

It is ridiculous how much injustice is in this world and how much happens right around us without us even really taking the time to notice.

I have a lot of angry feelings too.

But my angry feelings aren't because of injustice that has been shown to me. It is because of the injustice that has been shown to others.
And I can't help but feel like I haven't done enough to change that.

I can't imagine how hard it must be to identify all of the emotions and feeling that this girl must have, let alone see her own hurt and brokenness that is a result of someone else's actions. She is so brave. So strong. And she doesn't even know it. 

I hate injustice.
I'm so glad that Jesus does too.