This is a story I was told many years ago about broken vessels…
When a dish or something we loved like a beautiful vase falls and breaks into a thousand pieces, we throw them away angrily and regretfully. We consider it wasted and of no use. But in Japan they have a practice that highlights and enhances the breaks thus adding value to the broken object. It’s called Kintsugi, and it means a golden repair. This traditional Japanese form of art uses liquid gold, dusted with powdered gold to bring together the pieces of a broken pottery item, and at the same time enhance the breaks. Because of the randomness with which ceramics shatter and the irregular patterns that are formed due to the shattering, the gold enhances the broken marks. When the artist completes their work, a unique piece of pottery is put on display. What a beautiful picture is seen from the broken pottery.
Everyone has a story of something special in their lives that’s been broken, whether it be a favorite dish, a fragile gift that was given or a special toy during childhood. In that moment, disappointment and sadness are real. Throughout my childhood and even in my adult years I remember the same things happening to me. It hurts and a little part of you is angry that its broken because it can’t be what it once was. What about when its something broken in our lives, hearts, or our minds? Being broken in these areas causes people to be ashamed, eventually put on a mask to hide our emotions and try to pretend its all ok. But, its not at all ok. It’s very much the opposite.
When we stumble and fall, often the brokenness feels so heavy it seems it won’t ever lift. The result is that we carry it like a broken piece of pottery that no one else notices. The pain arrives because its sharp edges cut our emotions and allows us to feel useless, which is not what it originally was intended to be. When we are broken at the hands of others its not only cutting us, it’s overwhelming, even crushing us. But still we hide the pain in hopes ignoring it will make everything ok, because if people only knew “the real me” they would never believe that I am continually trying to live life, love the Lord, serve in my church, but all the while emotionally bleeding to death . We carry it into marriages, jobs, churches, and just life in general. It runs it course.
As a child my dad would tell me about cane stalks used for fishing, he would say “if they are bruised badly or broken you can stand them up straight and you can’t even tell they are weak, but any pressure at all and the weak place is exposed and they will break in that spot.” He explained to me how even though they couldn’t be used for fishing, they could be used for something much greater. For example the making of sugar, which is needed in everything. So, in a way the broken ones are of more value than the ones that were never bruised. There’s wisdom in that if we think about it…(Oh how I miss that man) We try so hard to look like nothing is wrong, we are #blessed and living life, but all the while praying no more pressure is put on us or we will surely break even further.
Then we live with the questions, “Why? What did I do to cause this pain?” We look inward to try to find answers because not having answers to questions is excruciating, brings about doubt, bitterness, and disbelief. So we try all the harder with “good works” and “if I only could” but the broken pieces of our lives drive down deeper into our souls because we feel we can’t be pleasing to Jesus or this wouldn’t be happening. The conclusion nothing good could come from this, or we can’t be loved or can’t love others properly because we are broken is made.
One of the main reasons I started this page was because of the feeling I struggled with of living in a private hell that kept me closed up inside. Due to this, I felt alone and ashamed because I couldn’t see any usefulness in my suffering, but all the while the Father was working in me and my brokenness for His glory. Most days my life is a broken mess! I’ve tried hiding it. I’ve tried putting on a smile and acting like life was just great, but much like the filter I use in my selfies to smooth out all the wrinkles ;)they look nice, but both are fake. If I had only handed the broken pieces over to Jesus, the healer of all. It’s a life process of learning this discipline. Oh the joy that comes when we give it all to Jesus, who is the mender of all, and to say “here it is, no longer can I carry all these broken pieces of my life. Lord, I need you.”
When the Japanese mend their bowls with gold, the brokenness stands out. The scars have made a piece of pottery become a beautiful vessel of grace. It took time to mend them. It took patience to work all the little pieces together, but once it was done, that “broken thing” that was thought useless, not only is it worth more, it’s more beautiful than ever before. We are all works in the potters hand, He sees things differently than we do. We see broken, useless, failed, and never will amount to anything. The Father sees what the finished product is going to be, a vessel of honor, used to reach out and help someone else who can no longer carry the load. He is the potter and the healer, but he uses us to help each other pick up broken pieces of shattered lives. Why? To show someone, there is hope. Because the truth is we ARE ALL BROKEN, just in different places. We’re to help them see meaning in the broken piece.
I grew up listening to this song, and it couldn’t be more true this very day.
Empty and broken, I came back to Him.
A vessel unworthy, so scarred from sin.
But He did not despair...He started over again.
And I bless the day, He didn't throw the clay away.
I love that song very much. Each one of us is a broken, beautiful, and mended testimony that speaks to the goodness and faithfulness of our Loving God. And the beauty behind the broken vessels of Grace is that it finds its true meaning because Jesus didn’t throw the clay away.
And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Jeremiah 18:4
Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand… Jeremiah 18:6