From Brokenness to Beauty
Brokenness To Beauty
I recently read a devotional by Ann Voskamo called The Broken Way. So let us first look at the definition of broken: Having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order.
How many of us have felt like we were torn into many pieces, no longer feeling like we were in working order?
First, let us look at our repairman.It says in Luke 4:18-The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. This verse clearly tells us that Jesus is the healer(or repairer) of our brokenness. Sometimes, Jesus may allow us to be broken. It is during those broken moments that we tend to seek Him more. Sometimes our brokenness is due to our own choices we may make. Other times we could be broken due to the choices others have made. No matter the cause of our brokenness, we have one common solution. That solution is Jesus, our healer! Because God never intends for us to remain broken.
In one of Ann’s books, she says that love decides everything. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says: And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. We all can agree that no one has shown us love like Jesus. John 15:13 says: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. It is that love like no other love for us that decides everything. We need to trust in that love wholeheartedly. What is the first and greatest commandment in the New Testament? Read Matthew 22:37-38:
37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. |
38 This is the first and great commandment. |
We need to love him with all of our being. I also read that Ann said what you are in love with decides what you live for. So we should live being in love with Him and trusting Him with all of our broken pieces. Knowing full well that He will put them back together again.
We all are or have been broken. Maybe not in the same ways, but broken nonetheless. Again, the definition of broken is having been fractured or damaged, no longer in one piece or in working order.
How many of you have had that favorite mug that you enjoy sipping your tea or coffee from? Only to suddenly drop it, watching it shatter into many broken pieces all over the floor. Rendering it no longer in working order. What then did you do with that mug?
While researching brokenness, I came across an ancient Japanese Art called Kintsugi. This is the art of putting broken pieces back together. If you truly loved your mug, you don’t want to throw it in the garbage do you? That is a precious piece of pottery to you. With Kintsugi, you can use a technique which uses lacquer and a strong resin dusted with gold to repair your broken pottery. This art was born out of the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi. This philosophy is the idea of seeing beauty and value in flaws and imperfections and accepting those flaws as a new part of life. I think we all could agree that we all are somewhat flawed. I would even go as far as to say that our own insecurity in our flaws have at times crippled us or held us back in our own spiritual lives.
Jesus has something differently to say to us about our broken state. Now let’s look at Matthew 5:3-12:
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. |
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. |
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. |
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. |
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. |
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. |
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. |
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. |
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. |
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. |
Jesus says in these verses that in our broken state, we are what? We are Blessed! One may be broken in a different way than someone else. But no matter the brokenness, Jesus wants to use that brokenness and bless us.
The art of Kintsugi can repair our broken pottery. It can make it useful once more, carrying out its purpose for which it was created. It has a specific job to do, and it will fulfill that job now that it is back together again. In contrast, it does concurrently look a little different. It has some cracks showing. But through those cracks are shimmering pieces of gold that are shining through. It is obvious that it has been through some things. That can’t be hidden or disguised. Yet it is still standing, with a bit more sparkle than it used to have, even standing stronger than it ever has because of the hardened resin that has been placed on the inside to hold it back together again.
Isn’t that what God does for us? We are like His precious pieces of pottery. He doesn’t want them to be broken. Yet sometimes things happen and we begin falling to pieces. But God is the Greatest Artist of all, Who has created all of the beauty around us. So He begins picking us up, piece by piece. It is going to take time and precision. We may stay broken a little longer than we prefer. We then will be covered in that sparkling gold resin holding us up stronger than before. Allowing the light of our brokenness to shine on others, in turn possibly helping someone else who may be going through similar circumstances that you have been through. Let us now read Matthew 22:39-40:
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. |
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. |
This is the second commandment in the New Testament . To love your neighbor as yourself. This is our purpose. Next read Philippians 2:3-5:
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. |
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. |
5 ¶ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: |
You can shine your light, allowing them to see you standing stronger than before. Not to brag or boast of yourself. But as Philippians 2 just told us, esteeming others better than ourselves. Ann also said that Sacrifice is the gift. She said that sacrifice is what will satisfy. Giving others hope and telling them all about your Artist, which is the Holy Spirit, who picked you up and put you back together again. Telling you that He has a purpose for you, and standing you firm that you can continue on in working order once again. Now that is a satisfying sacrifice. We often look for signs of God’s love. But as Ann said, it is when we truly feel and accept God’s love that he has for us, not just for others around us, that is when we become the sign of His love to others who may not be feeling very loved. We can do this in spite of our brokenness. Once again, it is then that we become the gift or the sacrifice to others. Finally feeling that sense of satisfaction in our sacrifice.
Ann’s daughter was making paper hearts one day when her little paper heart ripped in two. Her mother was waiting for the child’s tears to start flowing. However, to Ann’s surprise, the little girl said,”Thats okay. Maybe the love gets in easier right where the heart is broken.” Ann thought maybe our hearts are made to be broken as Jesus’ heart was broken for us. Maybe where our hearts are broken open is where the deepest love creeps in allowing wisdom to grow.
Ann has shown us that God has done great things through those who have had their own brokenness. She said that He calls the wounded to be World changers. For example, God called Moses who was hiding in the desert once he had discovered he had been living a lie and had killed a man. Yet God still used Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. Jonah was hiding from God out of hatred for the Ninevites. Yet God used him to save their entire people. Elijah was hiding in a cave in fear and begging God to take his life. Yet God pulled him out of that cave. Using Elijah once again until the day that God took Elijah up, never allowing him to see death. So if you are believing in God’s promises, you also need to believe in His path that He has you on. Trusting that He will get you through.
Finally in ending, I love what Ann’s husband said to her when he could see the hurt welling up in her eyes once again. He said,
“The seed breaks to give us wheat.”
“The soil breaks to give us the crops.”
“The sky breaks to give us rain,”
“The wheat breaks to give us bread.”
“The bread breaks to give us the feast.” (Just as Jesus was the bread that broke to give us eternal life). He then also said that,
“There once was an alabaster box that broke to give Him all of the glory.” (You can read about this in Matthew 26:6-13)We may not all share the same brokenness. We certainly can’t go back and remove our brokenness. However, there is one thing that we all can do , no matter what our brokenness may look like. We can break open our alabaster box of brokenness and give it all to The One who is able to use His artistry and put our broken pieces back together again. Praising He who is worthy along the way. Making us even stronger than before. Even with a bit of sparkle for others to see that Romans 8:28 is so very true. 28 ¶ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Like Craig Groschel often says, the Hebrew language is read backwards, just as we read God’s Providential work backwards. Once we have been through it we can not only trust in His promises, but in looking back, we can see that we should have trusted in His path as well. By virtue knowing that He knew what was best! We can share with others just how very true this verse is. We know, because we have witnessed Jesus doing it in our own lives. And in turn by giving Him our alabaster box, we are giving Him, the One who is worthy, all glory all honor and all praise. Not because of our brokenness, but in spite of our brokenness.
Once again, Love decides everything. As Ann said,”There is no growth without change,
No change without surrender,
No surrender without wounds,
No abundance without brokenness.” So maybe wounds are what breaks open our soul, which is the soil to plant seeds of deeper growth.
If you Trust in His Promises, Trust in His Path!
