Restoring What Was Broken

Restoring What Was Broken

I learned about kintsugi this week — the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. The philosophy is that the breakage is part of the object's history, not something to be hidden. The repaired cracks become the most beautiful part.

I thought immediately of Jeremiah 18, where God is the potter and we are the clay. He doesn't discard the marred vessel — He reshapes it. And I think sometimes He does it kintsugi-style: the breaks become part of the beauty. The story of restoration is the piece's most interesting feature.

My broken places are not disqualifying. They may be where the gold shows through most clearly.