God Can Fill Our Brokenness with Beauty

God Can Fill Our Brokenness with Beauty

We are all broken people needing repair.  Thankfully, God can fill our brokenness with beauty.

My First Earthquake

I experienced my first earthquake when we lived in Southern California during the early years of our marriage.  Steve was out of the country on business.  I was all alone.  It was morning and I was getting ready for work when the shaking began.  There was no warning.  Suddenly I felt unsteady and heard a low rumbling sound.  Stationary objects responded by rattling as they struggled for balance and ultimately fell to the ground.  Continual movement caused hairline cracks to surface on our walls.  My environment was being split apart.  In an instant, life changed.

You have shaken our land and split it open.  Seal the cracks, for the land trembles. Psalms 60:2

Life-Altering Changes

Have you ever received life-altering news changing the trajectory of your life?  Like an earthquake, you are jolted into a new reality.  The jolt could be any number of life-stressors including a health diagnosis, the death or loss of someone you dearly love, or a financial blow, to name just a few.  You feel shattered and fragmented, making it difficult to recover and embrace your new reality. 

God Can Fill Our Brokenness with Beauty

How do you respond to unexpected jolts or cracks in your life?  Where do you turn for help?  Thankfully, God is in the restoration business.  He shows amazing creativity as He fills the cracks and brokenness in our lives to create something new and lovely.  

Behold, I am doing something new; now it springs forth, do you not see it?  Isaiah 43:19a  

Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.”  Revelation 21:5a  

Kintsugi, a Japanese Art

Kintsugi is a Japanese art form which puts broken pottery pieces back together, using a lacquer mixed with precious metals.  Instead of hiding the cracks, this artistic technique highlights them in gold.  The gold veins seal the cracks but also captivate our attention.  You wonder, why the gold?  How was this art piece created?  What’s its story?

God has much in common with kintsugi.  He brings beauty, restoration, and grace into our broken and fragmented lives.  It is through our hardships and cracks that He weaves an alluring and artistic story of redemption.  The story is not only for us, but for the world to see.  Our God is a God of hope, even in tough circumstances.

Watch thing interesting 6 minute video on kintsugi. https://youtu.be/Y-_QmBrakfg?si=2ikq0Ml6ZT-EbDmm

Prayer:

Jesus, I need you to fill the cracks in my life.  May your gold filler, radiate through my brokenness and point others to you.  Amen.

Questions to Consider:

1. How has the Lord filled the brokenness in your life?
2. Share how another person’s story of restoration gives you hope.