This is the last post of 2015! In 2016, I will be traveling to Africa and Asia to share God’s unending love that he has for each person.
I was scrolling through Facebook the other night and came across this picture…
There are some words in Japanese that do not translate over to English very well which I thought was really cool! But maybe that’s just because I would love to speak another language.
After reading the definition… I realized that this word is more than just about a broken bowl being repaired. Instead, it describes my life and God’s grace perfectly!
There are three things I mostly wanted to focus on that I personally got out of this great picture. Others may see it and think,”Its just a broken bowl with gold filled in it”, but I guess blogs are about writing thoughts and opinions right?
First,
Elmer’s Glue… We try to piece our lives back together with Elmer’s glue because it’s a quick fix and probably sitting around everywhere in this house (life of a teacher’s daughter). Drugs, exessive alcohol, lust, adultery, and money are just a few examples of the Elmer’s Glue of the world that may fill up the crack in our life for a little while, but what happens when we run out of our supply? What happens when we need more? What happens when the glue didn’t stick as well as we needed it to? Our pieces fall apart again and again because we all know how well Elmer’s glue works. It may hold together two pieces of paper pretty good, but it is no match for the thick glass bowl called your life.
When we put down the glue (our humanly desires that lead us away from God), and pick up the liquid Gold (A relationship with Christ), we can begin to truly be repaired. The Japanese process of Kintsukuroi is 1000 times more effective than a kindergarten DIY project with Elmer’s glue. So, why would you settle for a bowl that will break over and over with cheap glue when you are being offered eternal life through Jesus Christ with a bonding process made with Gold?
Elmer’s Glue may be a quick fix, but God’s Gold will ultimately repair your broken pieces.
Second,
I love how the definition says, “understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken”. It made me stop and think about how I view myself. As I’ve written before, I will be transparent in my posts, and I will say that I would never have thought of my broken pieces, which are now repaired by God, as “beautiful”. I viewed my current and past brokenness as ugly, undesirable, and unworthy. But those are the lies that the enemy and the world want me to believe… because the truth is, I am beautiful and desirable to God, even with all of the mistakes I have made.
Look at the bowl mended with Gold. Isn’t it beautiful? To me, it is extravagant! There is not another bowl like it in the world.. not one! It is important to see your broken pieces as beautiful, because the potter created you and loves you, mistakes and all.
Third,
It is easy to hide our broken ways from the world… I mean who wants to admit their past drug abuse, their past addictions, or their past sins? Who wants to show your broken pieces when it seems like all the fine china around you doesn’t even have a little scratch. The third point I got from the tradition of Kintsukuroi is that although it may be hard, it is important for me to show the cracks in my life that are now filled with Gold in order to show others God’s grace and love.
It wouldn’t be right of me to share my brokenness, my mistakes, or my past hurts to flaunt how I made it through successfully, because actually God deserves all the credit. God saved me, picked up my broken pieces, and gracefully molded me back together when he could have left me on the ground. No matter how hard it may be, I will share my mended cracks full of gold with others in order for the world to see the grace God has given me. That same grace is given to you as well.
So my question to you is… Will you use the elmer’s glue or God’s Gold?
Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand. – Isaiah 64:8
