The following is an excerpt from “I Am Worthy” anthology. The entire book can be obtained at the www.brokenvesselholylight.com website.
The past can be seen in us; every healing is an experience that can be an opportunity to embrace as a walk through the valley where He sustained us and showed us His ways, and His love. We can use those realities to help others if we are willing to show our healed wounds to others and share with others how He brought us through our hard times.
Kintsugi, also known as Kintsukuroi, is a traditional Japanese art that celebrates the value of a piece of pottery that has been broken and then repaired. It embraces and brings attention to the restored broken pottery by encasing the mended crack with precious metals such as gold and silver. These golden seams showcase and celebrate the restoration rather than hiding the imperfection of the piece.
Kintsugi demonstrates a principle of God’s refining, that the process of mending and restoring by the Lord can make something even more valuable and precious and that it leads to greater strength and wisdom that gives us hope when we walk through the next challenge we face.
We tend to do the opposite on our own in our culture of social oversharing as we busily Photoshop our lives, trying to create an image of perfection for the world by blurring our imperfections, our past cracks, and our brokenness. It is popular to create this illusion of a perfect and happy life and self for the world to see. On the other hand, we sometimes expose all of our brokenness in a public outpouring of despair and discouragement, seeking encouragement and support from others instead of God. This can lead to a sense of hopelessness as they can offer advice, love, and support, but only the Lord can truly restore and fill us with His presence, His Holy light.
Rather than hiding the imperfections or discarding the brokenness, as we embrace and celebrate the restoration and even the mending process itself, we can see that just like Kintsugi we are becoming even more valuable and beautiful. Just as Kintsugi celebrates the beauty that comes from the process of repair, we learn to accept our own imperfections and recognize that we are unique and precious. Our walk and journey are also unique and precious. When we acknowledge that we are all in the process of being broken and mended, imperfect and flawed, but carrying the Holy light of God, His perfection, we are acknowledging that connection between our flawed human nature and a perfect God. Our growing and healing life journey can be balanced, not going from one extreme of pretend perfection to the other of open despair when we find we cannot be perfect on our own no matter how hard we try like a ship tossed about on the ocean. We can also provide support and encouragement to others as they see we too have faced similar situations and challenges and have been fully restored or are walking through the process of the restoration, knowing it will lead to gold in our lives.
We are not and cannot ever be perfect, but the grace that covers us, fills us, and completes us shines through our imperfections and proclaims His goodness to the world. The more we allow Him to shine, the more He is glorified and we are filled, transformed, and able to be used to encourage others as they see His goodness and grace operating in and through our imperfections.