An Article By: Jaybird Summers

  Have you ever heard the word Kintsugi? It’s a Japanese word meaning “more beautiful for having been broken”. This meaning springs from their process of repairing pottery. In Japan, when pottery breaks, they don’t throw it out like we do most things. Instead they take it and repair the pieces with gold. Once completed, the poetry piece is even more beautiful than it was at the beginning. Just like we are after the Father shapes us into the vessels he wants us to be (Jeremiah 18:5-6).

The kintsugi techniques are thought to have been invented around the fifteenth century when Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the eighth shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate (feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.) broke his favorite cup. He sent it to China to have it repaired. 

  The Philosophy of Kintsugi – To value an object’s beauty, as well as its imperfections, focusing on them equally as something to celebrate, not disguise. – reminds me that we are created exactly as we should be. Nothing more, nothing less. God made us who we are so that we can further His will and His kingdom. Maybe He made us to be great speakers or encouragers. Maybe He made us to be poets or story tellers. Maybe He made us to help that one person. Whoever you are, you are His.

You Are Not Useless

  Throughout the Bible. We are referred to as vessels or pottery. 

• 2 Timothy 2:21
• Romans 9:17
• Isaiah 64:8

These are just some of the places that come to mind. Very much like the potter and his clay in the parable, we are shaped and molded by our Father into something even more exquisite than before. Not because we were ugly or dumb or un-popular. But because everyone, no matter who they are, or what they’ve done, everyone is better, everyone shines brighter (2 Corinthians 4:6) with God. 

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house; there I will reveal My words to you.”

3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.

4 But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.

5 The word of the Lord came to me:

6 “House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel”.

He Has A Plan For You

  We are not perfect. We never will be. There was only ever one man who was perfect, and He died on the cross to give us a fresh start. 

Does that mean we should stop striving for perfection? 

No.

Does it mean that “oh, I’m never gonna be perfect anyway. Why try?”

No.  

  We try, because it matters. We try, because He has a plan for us.                    

Jeremiah 29:11 (HCSB) says ~

For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—

“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

  We are all a part of a bigger plan for a better future. Like cogs in a machine, we all have to work together. God doesn’t shape us into worthy vessels (2 Timothy 2:21) for us to sit around and not do anything! We were hand-picked for the greatest team and the work begins now! 

  Matthew 22:14 says – “For many are called, but few are chosen”. Many are called, yet few choose to listen.

Will you choose to become a worthy vessel?

Meet the Writer

Greetings! I’m Jaybird Summers. I’m a firm believer in C.O.F.F.E.E. (Christ Offers Forgiveness For Everyone Everywhere) and I have a love for studying God’s word. When away from the blog, I can be found wandering the farm or spending time with friends and family. When I can’t be found, I’m usually in my favorite cubbyhole reading a good book with a steaming cup of joe and a mind that is worlds away.