BEAUTY IN BROKENNESS

 It crashed to the floor, breaking into an explosion of pieces. Utterly irreparable. My sister’s favourite ceramic teaspoon, now I searched the floor for the scattered pieces of what was left of the adorable spoon. “Should have been more careful,” I muttered to myself.  I had visited her office and asked to have some tea, to which she handed me her mug and spoon. Distracted by what I was doing, I had forgotten I had the spoon with me and in a clumsy manner I dropped the spoon to the floor. “Maybe I should glue it back” that was the first thought that came to me. But I knew better that it would take so much work and still never be the same. Often, it takes too much work to fix what is broken. It takes too much work to try to restore. It’s easier to just buy a new one.

Ever felt that way? Broken. Shattered. Unwanted. Tossed aside. Disappointed. Ashamed. Thrown away. Or barely holding on. Life is messy. Life is hard. Life could be broken. There are no guarantees and we all mess up sometimes, we hurt those we love most. However we also love hard, and deep, and we forgive and we give second chances. Sometimes we lose our grip and everything just comes crashing down. Then you feel totally broken into many pieces. You feel the brokenness is beyond repair, you feel the need to hide the scar or you feel like just throwing it away and getting a new one. But life is not like a thing we can toss away and get a new. We have to fix the break and bring out a new beauty.

The heart of it all - turning what is broken into beautiful, cherished pieces, by sealing the cracks and crevices with lines of fine gold. Instead of hiding the flaws, Kintsugi artists highlight them, creating a whole new design and bringing unique beauty to the original piece. The pottery actually becomes more beautiful and valuable in the restoration process because, though it was once broken, it not only has history, but a new story. Can we begin to see our brokenness as a blessing rather than a curse, a beauty mark rather than a scar, a new beginning rather than the end? Unfortunately, we are too often caught up in the mirage of wholeness, the mistaken belief that a perfect outer shell will make us more lovable, more acceptable, more in control. The scars of life, the healed wounds, the deep lines, the broken dreams, the failed promises, the deception, they all have stories to tell. Yet often we try to hide them away, preferring instead to present to the world, a safe façade of who we are, a more “perfect” version. It’s too difficult to risk the real vulnerability of exposing what once was. Or what still is.

Yet God breaks through all that mess. You are never beyond healing. You are never too broken for restoration. You are never too shattered for repair. Do not be ashamed of your scars, of the deep crevices that line your soul, or the broken places of your life. They have an amazing story to tell. Brokenness has the power, unlike anything else, to bring forth new beauty, strength, and inspiration to others. Because it’s often in those moments that we’ve tasted deep suffering, that we noticed, we were made for more. Two songs come to mind as I write this piece. “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” by Whitney Houston and “You Haven't Seen the Last of Me” by Cher. Beauty isn’t always lit up like a rainbow, but often found in the quiet, small, still corners of life.  And when we find it, we are changed. Search for the beauty in your life. It might be the warm hug from a good friend, the gentle smile from a stranger, the little word of encouragement, or even the slight pat on the shoulder. Beauty is still there.

We are all shattered in one way or another. We are all incomplete, missing pieces here and there. But we are all beautiful. In fact, we are more beautiful because of it. Who wants polished perfection that belies the truth of what's inside when you can have the raw power of beauty that's broken because it has lived and loved and lost and carried on in spite of it all? Be broken and be beautiful.