Kintsugi and brokenness revisited

November 5, 2016 I wrote a post about Kintsugi.

 Recently I have gone back and read that post several times. This evening a friend shared a link about Kintsugi. It seems like an opportune time to look at the art form again.  

All of us have been, are or will be broken. 

Instead of ignoring, denying or hiding the fractured, splintered, ugly parts of our lives, what would happen if we acknowledged the brokenness and our inability to "fix it", (in our lives and in the lives of those we love), and laid the pieces at the feet of Jesus and allowed God to do His work, to take what is broken and make it whole again. 

Will ever be the same? 

Absolutely not. 

But that doesn't mean our lives will never be beautiful again.

(*bolding and italicizing is my addition to the information google provided)

from Wikipedia

Kintsugi (金継ぎ?, きんつぎ, "golden joinery"), 

also known as Kintsukuroi (金繕い?, きんつくろい, "golden repair"), 

is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. 

*As a philosophy,

it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, 

rather than something to disguise.

REPAIRED HEART (KINTSUGI STUDY, #4) 2015 by TJ Volonis
(Credit: vanderbiltrepublic.com)

Artist TJ Volonis evocatively expresses how Kintsugi can help us come to terms with human mortality in his 2015 exhibit Pagan Poetry, which featured several ceramic works mended with urushi lacquer. 

*The sculpture “Repaired Heart” leaves little doubt that a broken heart becomes more beautiful when it is treated as something precious, tended with concentration and care.

a broken heart
is pain full (not a typo), 
but also uniquely beautiful

big hearts can be broken
little hearts can be broken
any heart that is not calloused will be hurt

there is no limit to what the source might be

a strain
an injury 
an illness 

the loss of something dear
whether it be a possession or position,
a dream, a hope or a loved one 

the severity varies

no two people react or heal the same because
no two hearts are created the same
no two lives include the same experiences

the source doesn't matter-
pain is pain
and pain hurts

so I have a suggestion

regardless 
of what caused the brokenness 
of what we think we would do in that situation

let's not judge
let's not compare
let's not tell people how they should feel

rather, 

let's practice the Japanese art of *Kintsugi

in our lives

in the lives of others

how?

let's be kind,

let's be gentle, 

let's be patient,

let's be compassionate

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." Romans 12:15