Kintsugi: Perfectly Imperfect Beauty
I love pottery. I especially love watching it in the formation
stages, with all the dizzying details of the process. From the sloppy wheel,
the potter’s muddy hands working inside and out of the lump of clay, the tools,
the glazes, and the kiln… it fascinates as much as it enlightens my heart about
my Maker. There is great God-given wisdom wrapped up in the work of the clay!
He is chief
designer; we are the work of his hands.
How foolish to think that we know better than the Lord, or have
sufficient wisdom to decide our path or guide our lives. He is Sovereign. He is
a good Father and completely
trustworthy.
Isaiah 64:8 says, God is the potter and we are
the clay.
Romans 9:20-21 adds that we cannot argue with our
maker.
In other words, He knows what He’s doing.
Learning about some of the ancient art of ceramics around the world
has opened my eyes to some of the many ways God shapes us and makes his mark in
our lives.
RAKU:
ancient firing and use of common elements
For instance, years ago I wrote about the fascinating work of raku, employing such simple elements as
horse hair and maple leaves to burn luminescent patterns into the clay. Every
piece is one-of-a-kind and the unique markings on the finished pieces look like
they are still on fire![1]
In the same way, we don’t know what God will use but we can be
assured that He can use every simple element of my life to shape and transform
me for his glory. We can be forever imprinted and aglow with the presence of
our Creator if we allow Him to have his
way in us.
Even when we get broken or it seems like all is lost.
KINTSUGI:
the art of redemption
This week, I learned about the ancient Japanese pottery called kintsugi. The thing that especially
caught my attention is the use of broken pieces of pottery. It is a process of
redemption unlike any other.
Kintsugi is defined as “the Japanese art of repairing
with gold to create a perfectly imperfect piece of beauty.”
Don’t you love that?
Don’t you love that?
In
other words, that which breaks and would otherwise be cast away as unusable, is
lovingly repaired instead. And it isn’t just scraped together and sloppily glued
back into shape with superglue. It is delicately laced together with the most costly
substance on earth: gold!
Increased value
In
the very same way, by God’s redeeming work of grace in us, paid for by the
blood of his only begotten Son Jesus, we are made even more beautiful and
valuable than before!
We were bought at such a great price that nothing else could surpass or compare to it, and we therefore become the most precious and privileged of all people on the planet: the blood-bought children of God.
We were bought at such a great price that nothing else could surpass or compare to it, and we therefore become the most precious and privileged of all people on the planet: the blood-bought children of God.
This is why Peter, the down-to-earth fisherman,
marveled, “…you were not redeemed from
your useless [spiritually unproductive] way of life inherited [by tradition]
from your forefathers with perishable things like silver and gold, but
[you were actually purchased] with precious blood… the priceless blood of
Christ.”
1 Peter 1:18-19
1 Peter 1:18-19
And John the beloved disciple who leaned his head on Jesus
at the Last Supper, exclaimed in wonder, “Behold, how great is the love the
Father lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (I John 3:1)
He brings
beauty out of the ashes
“Kintsugi is the essence
of what is poetic about Japanese culture, turning the accidents and misfortunes
that life brings into expressions of transcendent beauty.”[2]
Yes! I can attest to this personally, that God uses all the broken bits
and pieces in our lives, and amplifies his purposes in us despite, and
especially, through hard times. Through tragedies, hurricanes, diseases or fire,
God specializes in taking things thought hopeless and impossible, and doing
marvelous things!
When
I see words like perfectly imperfect,
something in me smiles. This is for everyone. No matter who you are, what you’ve
done, or what’s going on, God can bring
order out of chaos, and beauty from ashes. Go for the gold…
Isn’t
it amazing? We, who are so full of stubborness and rebellion, who have spent so
much of our time on earth running from the Lord and resisting Him, we, who are
so broken, are given the privilege of renewal.
The
Master Potter can salvage broken lives from the rubble with the golden threads of unconditional
forgiveness and undeserved grace.
He makes all things new!
He makes all things new!
Everything is enhanced and beautified in His gentle gifted hands.
…if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in,
joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a
new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the
previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things
have come [because spiritual awakening brings new life]. 2 Cor 5:17
Labels: beauty for ashes, go for the gold, kintsugi pottery, Raku pottery, the art of redemption, the work of his hands
posted by Karen Low Deloge at 7:56 PM
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