#75Hard Day 65: The Art Of Kintsugi + The Beauty Of Our “Flaws”

▶️ There is a Japanese art called kintsugi in which broken pottery is mending with gold, silver, or platinum lacquer instead of clear or color-matching lacquer. As you can imagine, this highlights the broken places rather than disguising them.
▶️ The Japanese value the history and use of an object and view a broken piece through the eyes of value in its wear and tear rather than considering it ugly because of those damaged parts.
▶️ I could not help but see the spiritual implications for us when I first heard about this process.
▶️ Many times we view the difficulties we’ve walked through, our struggles, or even the terrible things that others have done to us as making us broken and damaged.
▶️ Our natural tendency is to hide those things from others and to consider them flaws.
▶️ In light of Romans 8:28, I believe they take on a potential for deep value. These broken places have the potential to add value not only by way of our own growth, but also to the healing of others.
▶️ Instead of pretending like we have everything all together, we need to be willing to share our past stories with those who may need to hear the healing power of hope.
▶️ If we pretend like everything is fine when it’s not, others wonder what is wrong with them and why they aren’t able to cope.
▶️ I certainly think we need to consider the context and guard our vulnerable places by sharing them only when the Lord prompts us to. We also need to of walked through them to some extent in order to share insight with others. Don’t share when you are still raw.
▶️ I have seen people who have walked through tremendous difficulty or past trauma find a new level of healing and take on a deep sense of meaning by helping someone else who has dealt with a similar situation.
▶️ The completes picture of Romans 8:28 is that we start to look with gratitude on things we once wished we had not had to go through. We find beauty in the broken places and point that glory to the Lord.
▶️ Read about the art here.