Tough as Nails, Built to Last, Practically Perfect in Every Way. These
slogans and thoughts seem to sum up what we strive for and yet they would
deprive us of what we need most.
I think we underestimate the power and sanctity of being
broken. Something that is whole and perfect does not need the touch of a
Master. It holds its form and performs its function just fine, thank you very
much. I mean really who wants a broken pitcher? No one, it will not hold water.
That was what it was created for, right?
And yet, what if that pitcher needs to spend some more time
in the Creator’s hands? What if that pitcher needs to be held more, talked to
more, adjusted, glued and repainted? What if those cracks and pieces are
essential for that pitcher, not to hold water, but to sit on a shelf and hold
the last flowers a mother picked from her garden and are now dried and
remembered daily by her child? What if instead of holding water, that pitcher
is the unexpected safe place for the family’s meager savings? That brokenness
didn’t change that the pitcher is needed and serves a purpose.
In Japan, they have Kintsugi. It is a tradition of taking a
broken piece, maybe a teacup, and gluing it back together using gold, silver or
platinum dusted epoxy. The idea being that there is beauty in things that are
imperfect, that things should not be wasted, and that we need to accept change.
Those are some pretty powerful and beautiful ideas.
The pharisees in ancient times were, in their minds, pretty
darn close to perfect. They knew the law, they kept the law, unlike the dirty
and flawed beings around them. Yet the Master came to the “flawed” ones and they became more beautiful, worked
into something new. Not wasted. Changed.
I no longer fear being broken, I fear not realizing when I
am broken and needing to spend more time with my Creator, the Master Healer. I
don’t want to be a wasted work. I am His creation. I am broken. I am able to be
fixed by Him. My brokenness does not make me useless or worthless. On the
contrary, I may be more valuable, more pleasing to the eye if I allow more time
in the Master’s hands.
