Kintsugi (金継ぎ) is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery. Rather than gluing the pieces back together in a way that conceals the cracks, Kintsugi makes the cracks even more visible by filling them with lacquer resin mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. This results in a metallic design that runs across the surface of the pottery, making it look even more beautiful than before it was broken.
The philosophy behind Kintsugi is that objects don’t need to be thrown away because they are broken; nor must their brokenness be hidden. Rather, brokenness is embraced as simply part of an object’s life. The significance of an object does not fade just because it’s been broken.
The same philosophy applies to us. Our value does not decrease because we are broken. In fact, sometimes brokenness is required to live lives that are fully surrendered to God. Sometimes the road to falling more in love with God means letting our hearts be broken first.
God never said it would be easy. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). | “… Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24) | “Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (Mark 8:35)
See… We can’t fall more in love with God until we fall out of love with whatever isn’t, first and foremost, Him.
Everything we’ve built our lives upon, everything we’ve sought false security in, everything we’ve gotten far too attached to — our jobs, our hobbies, our relationships, our plans — sometimes God will ask us to let go these things. And even if we know it’s all for the better, it certainly won’t feel that way for the time being. It’s going to hurt. It’s going to feel like the definition of having a broken heart.
But all that’s left is to surrender to this brokenness.
So give God your heart, even if it’s in pieces – no, especially if it’s in pieces. Give Him the broken shards and He will return it, gluing the pieces back together, not bothering to conceal the cracks but celebrating them, painting them gold — so that, like Kintsugi, our hearts will be returned to us, even more beautiful than before they were broken.
Beautiful because they were broken.
Celine Diaz: Real Talk 
I really enjoyed this blog! It's personal and relatable. I would like to discuss something with you though:
Ps.51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” The Hebrew word used here is בָּרָא, to create. It is also the same verb used in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God בָּרָא (created) the heaven and the earth.” So the Psalmist is asking God to literally create a new heart out of non-existence.” My question is, how can your blog interact with this passage?
*disclaimer: I do NOT disagree with your thoughts! This question just jumped into my mind and I just wanted to start a discussion as I do not have an answer for myself. I think it's an interesting topic of discussion. 🙂
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<3
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Hey Peter! Thanks for leaving this comment 🙂 Honestly, that's a tough one to answer. I guess one might say that rather than “repairing” your broken heart, God is creating a completely new one — which is why surrendering to God's will and allowing your heart to break is all the more valuable and important. Your thoughts?
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<3 !!
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sounds good to me! God cannot create a new one unless it's broken first. Also, He certainly cannot give us the new one he created unless we surrender the broken pieces to him. 🙂
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And who is to say He does not include the cracks and fractures in the new one he creates? So that the broken lines can remind us of our fragility and the profound beauty found in our weakness.
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I continue to be awed by Gods' 'machinery' and the way HE works��.
I 'stumbled' on this post because I am personally struggling with a lot and my heart hurts. So here I am thinking of all I will like to say to a few people and it spoke to me that this will be more useful to a world of people.
Uhmmm, how can I get this done? Maybe I start a blog. What will I call this blogspot (not sure if that's the correct terminology )? Eureka! I will call it 'Real Talk'. Yes that sounds nice. It encompasses a lot but first let me search and ensure no one has that name yet. Alas……..
I am glad I searched because I now know that I will have the 'Kintsugi' heart when all this pain fades.
Thanks for this piece.
Now, I shall return to thinking up a name for my blog.
Shalom.
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Thank you for reaching out with this comment! I'm glad you've chosen to start a blog, since lots of wisdom can be gained from moments of pain. Best of luck with everything.
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