Broken Heart
A young girl sat sadly at church after losing her mother. A wise older woman put her arm around her. The girl confessed, “I feel broken.” The woman gave her crayons and asked her to draw a butterfly. She did. Then, the woman asked her to break the crayons in half and draw the butterfly again.
The girl was confused. You weren’t supposed to do that. But she went ahead, broke the crayons, and drew the same butterfly. The woman remarked, “You could create a beautiful picture even with the broken crayons. In this fallen world, many things can break us. But with God’s help, you can still create beauty all around you.”
Sometimes, we feel like broken crayons. We worry our loved ones are broken. But God specializes in turning broken into beautiful.
Broken Pottery
Kintsugi (“golden joinery”) is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by joining the pieces using lacquer and gold, leaving a gold seam where the cracks were. This adds a depth of beauty and character to the pottery. Their philosophy is that by repairing broken things in this manner, we create something more unique, beautiful, and resilient.
Jesus does the same with our lives and our loved ones. The Bible says He is the potter, and we are the clay. (Isaiah 64:8) As He fills our mistakes and mess-ups with His gold, He adds a depth of character and beauty to our lives. Lovingly, he recreates us into someone beautiful, unique, and resilient. He is the glue that holds our broken pieces together. And He has a new and more excellent plan for our lives and the lives of those we love.
Researching Kintsugi inspired me to repair my awesome but tragically broken mug. There are authentic Kintsugi kits for $225 on the internet. Needless to say, mine is not authentic. Some epoxy and gold paint from Joann’s did the job quite nicely.
Broken Country
My daughter, Becky, is an AIM worker (Associate in Missions) in Warsaw, Poland. On our recent trip to visit her, the city’s history inspired me. Warsaw was the worst-damaged city in Europe by the end of WW2, with 90% of the buildings destroyed. It went from 1.3 million people in 1939 to a few thousand in 1945.
After the war, Polish architects used paintings of Warsaw’s streets and old records to guide them in reproducing the Old Town to look as it had before. Demolished buildings left so much rubble that removing it from the city was impossible. So they simply crushed the old bricks, added water and cement, and produced new bricks to rebuild.
The following is a picture of the beautiful rebuilt Old Town of Warsaw. The builders preserved the charming look and feel of the old Polish buildings and palaces. That’s my son, Stephen, in the yellow jacket.
The black thing in the next picture is a track from a German tank that was embedded in the wall. The builders left the track as a memorial and rebuilt the building around it. The light rectangle is the plaque explaining it.
The city outside of Old Town is as modern as any European city, with massive skyscrapers and a fantastic transportation system. The streets were clean, and I felt safe. There are other cities with buildings comparable to those in Warsaw. But the transformation of the city is what makes it amazing. The rise from the rubble is the reason it inspires.
If men can transform a city like this, what can God do with you? Or your loved one?
God can rebuild a demolished life. Using the rubble to rebuild, He can transform weakness into strength. Your scars become memorials like that tank track in the picture above. Your ashes become the bricks to build a new and more amazing life.
Broken People
The Bible tells us that Sarah doubted God would keep His promise. Ruth was a poor, hungry widow far from home. Mary Magdalene had seven devils.
God used these broken women to create beauty. Sarah’s name is in the list of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. Ruth got married and became the great-grandmother of King David. Mary Magdalene was the first person to see Jesus after His resurrection.
What God did with them, He can do with you and your loved ones. He promised this in His word. “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:3)
No matter how broken you are now or have been in the past, broken crayons still color and create beauty.
For more on this subject, https://soundmindtalk.com/healthy-thoughts/turning-trouble-into-treasure/
