Between Broken and Repaired

There’s a story in the Hebrew Testament where the Hebrew people, having been released from captivity in Egypt, find themselves wandering in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. Here’s a small part of their story:
 
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” (Numbers 21:4-5)
 
It’s been a struggle for these people, to say the least. For one thing, it’s all new to them. They’ve been in captivity for so long that they know nothing about freedom, let alone how to navigate it.Their entire lives—culture, rules, and norms—have been shaped by a cruel and demanding Pharaoh. But the God of their ancestors heard their cries and liberated them. Now they’re on their own. Feeling like they’ve lost their way, they begin to crumble and complain, even longing to return to the hell they know.
 
Ernest Hemingway, in A Farewell to Arms, wrote: “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” Such a strong statement from a man whose own strength became his crippling weakness. Hemingway’s tragic suicide is a reminder that life is hard. It’s damn near impossible to get through it without suffering cracks along the way. But, as we see in the ancient Japanese art form of kintsugi, there is beauty to be found in these cracks.
 
Kintsugi a way to repair broken pottery using a special lacquer mixed with gold. The goal for the artist is not to hide the cracks but to transform the piece into something new. Each golden line tells a new story, making the object more beautiful and valuable because of its imperfections.
 
I suspect you know what it feels like to be lost and broken. For me, it took a broken marriage to come home to God. The truth is, most of us only seek God when something in our lives is broken, when we’re in need of healing. Kintsugi has reminded me of what God’s redemption looks like. God sees our brokenness and believes we are worth fixing. Still, as both Hemingway and the Hebrew people realized – the path to redemption is often paved with pain and suffering.
 
Yet scripture constantly reminds us that God is always with us – always healing and redeeming us with unconditional love and grace. That love and grace has a name: Christ. He is the bond that puts us back together. He is the gold that fills our scars, giving them new meaning and beauty. Through Him, we become more valuable because of our brokenness.
 
We all carry the scars of our past. But instead of hiding them or pretending they don’t exist, we are called to wear them proudly, knowing they are a living testimony of God’s love and grace. Each golden scar lets the world know we’re worth more to God precisely because of our cracks.

When I see my own scars, I am reminded, not of my brokenness but of God’s goodness. I see them and know that it’s God’s love for me that I’m alive today to tell this story. As we fill in the chips and cracks, the dents and dings, and all the broken and shattered pieces of our lives with the gold that is God's love, let us not forget that we become more beautiful and more valuable than ever.