Beauty from brokenness

Maybe some of you have heard about Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken pottery and ceramics. The word, Kintsugi literally means, “to join with gold” and so the broken item is put back together using a lacquer mixed with powdered gold. Sometimes silver or platinum can be used in the mending process.
The art of kintsugi is not just a way of restoring something back to its original form, it is
through the delicate skill of the craftsman using the gold powder that the broken object is put back together.  Because of the skill of the repairer, the object is not only restored to its original shape, but has now been made into a thing of exquisite beauty by loving hands. The picture above shows what was seemingly an ordinary broken vase being put back together, but in a better, more attractive, stunning and beautiful way. No longer is the vase just a plain object, it has now been lifted to a new level.

Today sadly, all around us are people who are broken in some way. It may be through
addiction, sadness, loss or a loss of purpose or a life where hope is gone.  The ministry of Jesus was marked by acts of compassion and love for the marginalised, the sick and the broken. His healing of the blind, the lame and the lepers, shows the transforming, restoring power and love of our God. If today you are in need of being restored, turn towards the Lord and follow Him for He is in the transformation business and can create in you a thing of beauty. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”