I sit here reminiscing and I find it funny as I am reminded of dishes and various trinkets I have broken over the years. Most of the dishes just slipped through my hands while the few trinkets I remember were often broken due to horseplay. The now broken item(s) were swept up, the broken pieces were tossed into the trash never to be seen or messed with again.

The Japanese have what I would say is a type of art, others may call it a restoration. It is described as the art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer, dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. This artful form of repair treats the breakage and repair as part of the history of an object rather than something to disguise.

Kintsukuroi is the art of repairing broken things and making the broken more beautiful because it was broken. Landfills across the world today are filled with objects that one time meant something to somebody but due to their brokenness, it was discarded.

The beauty in Kintsukuroi is that no two items are broken in the same manner, which creates a unique work when repaired. Similarly, no two people are broken in the same way and each one is unique in its way. Maybe you’re reading this and you’re broken from disappointment, betrayal, heartache, or any other number of ways. The beautiful thing is that once you’ve been put back together you’re able to minister to someone; to reach someone on a level no one else may be able to.

We, the church, must look beyond the brokenness; we must look beyond the current condition and see what God see’s. The outward appearance may show a person so deeply broken there is no hope of restoration. But just as the artist puts the pieces back together, God is wanting to put the broken things back together. The Psalmist wrote: He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds (Psalms 147:3).

Kintsukuroi repairs to become part of the history to make the broken thing more beautiful. While our history may not be something beautiful, history is what makes us. Without a test, there cannot be a testimony. Without history, there is no story.

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: (Philippians 1:6). While the world teaches us to discard the broken things, that once an object is broken it is no longer of worth; but you matter, you have worth there can be beauty in your brokenness.

God values the broken things. You have value to God. Your brokenness is the reason he robbed himself in flesh, suffer and die on the cross. He did so for the broken because to Him there is beauty in the broken things.

I remember telling Mom, “I can’t wait to be 16,” or “I can’t wait to be 18,” or not being able to wait to get to certain season or circumstance of life. Mom’s consistent reply was, “Why do you want to wish your life away?”

I really did not have a full grasp of what Mom was saying when I was a teenager, but I understand it better today. If I am living my life waiting for a circumstance to pass, believing my happiness is on the other side of my circumstance, or in a different place, I am “wishing my life away.”

Growing up in church I remember many Sunday services when the preacher would use the verse, “This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” As a teenager it was almost as if Sunday was the only day the Lord had made to rejoice and be glad.

Every day is a day the Lord has made and regardless of my circumstance, I can rejoice and be glad in it.

We used to sing an old song entitled, “Everybody Will Be Happy Over There”, but I do not have to have to wait for another time and place to find happiness and fulfillment in life. I try to heed the words of my mother try to “not wish my life away.”

Jesus said, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I am come that you might have life more abundantly.” It’s a good life living for the Lord, and because of Him I don’t have to wish my life away, or postpone my happiness to another time and place.

Don’t just wait for life to be different, let us help you find joy, contentment, and fulfillment in life today at Turning Point Church, Seneca, MO – A Place of Hope, A Place of Healing.