Lynn Mosher

Encouraging the Heart~Uplifting the Soul

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Let the Light Shine

August 4, 2014 By Lynn H Mosher

Broken potA couple of posts ago, I posted a devotional called Broken and Better. (In case you missed it, it’s here.)

I received a precious email comment from someone I’ll call Maryellen. I asked her permission to share it with you. I know you will be blessed by it…

This is a beautiful and encouraging object lesson, and the images of repaired objects are lovely. They make it quite easy to imagine life repaired. I’m reminded of a similar lesson related to pottery.

Some years ago, my fellow choir members and I were challenged to share favorite verses of scripture or a story with the group, and as my scheduled day to share drew near, I knew what I wanted to share.

I’ve always been intrigued with photographs and artistic images of clay pots from Bible times. Whether whole or broken, the pottery was beautiful to me. Having grown up in rough circumstances, and, at the time, in a very rocky marriage, I felt quite like a broken piece of clay pottery. Second Corinthians 4:6-9 was the passage I shared, as it gave me great hope in that time:

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (NIV)

For my sharing time, I purchased a clay vase and broke it then glued it back together, leaving a jagged hole on one side where a small piece had broken out. I then placed a candle in the bottom of the vase and lit it.

During the beginning of my talk, the still perfect side was facing my fellow choir members who saw only a limited amount of the light from the candle glowing at the top of the vase. This, to me, represents a person who acts and talks as though they have life figured out; they seem to have it all together…yet somehow don’t radiate the love of Christ.

Then, as I turned the vase around to the “ugly and broken” side, I made the point that, if we allow Christ to do so, He heals from the inside out, and through our experiences, if we are willing to open ourselves up to others, His light and power that dwells in us is more apparent to those who need to see it. The Light is comforting to behold as HE (the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature…Heb 1:3) shines out from the cracks in our earthly vessels.

That lesson still has much significance for me today, as I am older and more of life’s trials have chipped away at my heart. But I am at peace, knowing I am loved and cared for; and that in turn, He will make a way for me to share the warmth of His light and love with others He chooses to place in my path.

Jesus said, “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:14-16 Msg)

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Broken and Better

July 23, 2014 By Lynn H Mosher

Kintsugi

Broken and better.

[tweet]Would you ever think that something broken could be better, more beautiful, or more valuable?[/tweet]

I came across this wonderful process used by the Japanese. Maybe you’ve seen if before. It’s called kintsugi (meaning golden joinery) or kintsukuroi (meaning golden repair).

The story has two or so versions, but the one used the majority of the time is this one…

In the 15th-century, a governing official or general named Ashikaga Yoshimasa broke a tea bowl and sent it to China to be repaired. When the bowl came back, metal staples held it together. Disappointed, he attempted to come up with a better, more attractive way to repair broken pottery.

His discovery? Adding gold dust to an adhesive resin to repair it improved the appearance. This process emphasized the cracks and made them more appealing. The discovery became known as kintsugi or kintsukuroi. The process attempts to create something beautiful out of the broken and imperfect.

Here are a few of the images of kintsugi/kintsukuroi I found…

Kintsugi collage 1
Kintsugi Collage 2

While we, in our society, throw out the old and trash the broken, the Japanese consider a repaired piece to be elevated to a whole new level of appreciation. In fact, they have been known to purposely break a vessel of pottery just so it can be repaired.

They cherish the imperfection of a broken pot repaired in this way, seeing it as a creative rebirth to the pot’s life story. They consider that, when something suffers damage, it then has a history, and it becomes more beautiful and valuable.

The gold repair brings beauty out of the brokenness. Not as good as new…but better! Brand new!

[tweet]Doesn’t God do the same for our brokenness?[/tweet] He…

* mends the broken into beauty
* molds the flaws into flawlessness
* renews the useless into usefulness
* shapes the wanting into wholeness
* transforms the worthless into worthy.

I don’t remember who said this but it’s so true, [tweet] “God loves you as you are but He loves you too much to leave you where you are.”[/tweet] He’s the Repairman. He uses the gold of His love, grace, mercy, and compassion to mend your broken heart, broken relationships, broken attitudes, broken marriages, broken past, broken dreams, broken health, and whatever else that may be broken in your life.

He uses the same gold that lavishly adorned His temple. The gold of pure worth and holiness. He fills in all those cracks, breaks, crevices, rifts, chinks, chips, and gaps in your life’s temple, those wrecked, devastating, and fractured moments, those broken pieces of your life, and gives you renewed strength, attitude, effort, and character, transforming you into something more beautiful for having been broken and repaired. [tweet]Joining you to Christ to make you into something far more valuable.[/tweet]

Have pieces of your life been broken away?
Has God put the pieces back together again, making you more beautiful?
Are you a broken pot with a new life story?
Do you see value in your life you did not see before?

Oh, let us seek that bond of golden joinery!

“We who believe are carefully joined together
with Christ as parts of a beautiful, constantly
growing temple for God.”

Eph. 2:21 TLB

 

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