While cleaning, I dropped a little vase that held a plastic plant. It was an inexpensive decoration that I used in my bathroom. But I liked the whiteness of the ceramic vase, the pebbles glued on top, and the realistic-looking green spikey leaves of the imitation lace aloe.

Frustrated, I picked up the shattered ceramic and the plant attached to Styrofoam from the tile floor, mumbling to myself about my carelessness.

Just as I was about to throw it all away in the trash, I remembered something I read a while back about Kintsugi. Kintsugi is a Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by using a lacquer with gold or other metals such as silver or platinum to mend the areas of breakage.

I remembered how the article explained that the breakage repair embraced the defect instead of hiding it. This art form celebrates imperfections. By highlighting the cracks with gold, the piece became more aesthetically pleasing and more valuable.

What a beautiful metaphor this artform is in relation to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Throughout the gospels, He takes the most broken, useless, lost, and discarded outcasts of society and puts them back together through His mercy and grace, sealing their imperfections with His precious blood.

Even today, every single day, Christ’s love shines like gold through our brokenness, fears, and pain. He uses our imperfections like an artist of Kintsugi.

In these trying times, we may feel the same adversity King David experienced when he wrote in Psalm 31:12, “I have become like broken pottery.”

At first, I thought it was a silly idea—a waste of time. But while at the store, I bought some glue and gold glitter. Later, when I brushed the substance over the cracks and connected the pieces back like a puzzle, a sense of joy overwhelmed me. The little ceramic vase looked beautiful. The defects highlighted in gold created a unique design.

There are many beautiful biblical passages about how God will use the broken for His honor and glory. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not us” (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Here’s a picture of my dollar-store attempt at Kintsugi:

Yes, it looks like glue and gold glitter on a cracked vase.

But I will never look at it again without remembering how God puts our broken pieces together, one by one with the loving hands of a potter, and seals it with His golden touch of grace, forgiveness, and peace.