Kintsugi: Putting the pieces back together

Kintsugi: Putting the pieces back together

“So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.”

Jeremiah 18:3-4 MSG

 

Kintsugi is yet another beautiful way of viewing life, infused in art and practical uses. Basically it is taking a broken vessel or object, and mending it with the imperfections highlighted and reinforced with gold, or with something else that makes it stronger. 

 

Usually when something breaks we either discard it, or glue it back together and make it look like nothing happened. Kintsugi takes the broken pieces, carefully cleans the pieces, smoothed them, applies gold to them, and a new old object emerges. The damages repaired, but also highlighted. The cracks can be admired, but note that the piece is probably stronger than before. 

 

It reminds me of learning a lesson and gaining wisdom after a trying time that seemingly breaks us down and we have to put the pieces back together again through the healing process. We put the whole situation in the potters hand, and he repurposes it into something beautiful and stronger than before.