kintsugi

yesterday, i read a piece by glennon over at momastery, which is full of thoughtful insight on the human condition. {do read it.} within all the marvelous words, glennon offered up this gem:

"I used to say: I'm broken. Fix me. Then I grew up a little and said: WAIT A MINUTE. I'M NOT BROKEN. And now I'm a real grown up so I say: Of course I'm broken. And I love, love, love myself that way. If you're comfortable with that - come sit with me and we can laugh and cry and be broken and beautiful together. But don't try to fix me - I didn't ask for that. I just asked for some good company in which to be human."

this. of course i am broken. life well lived can be a rough and tumble ride, and no one ever promised you wouldn't fall to pieces over it. in fact, as oprah said, "we can't become what we need to be by remaining what we are." changing events may be gradual and almost unnoticed, or they may come hard and fast. they may lift you, but they may also break you. and that is okay. because what i have learned on this journey of life is that when you're standing there, holding the pieces of yourself - that is the moment of opportunity.  that is when you learn just who you are, how strong you can be - and how beautiful this life is. there is beauty in the broken.

but i think there is more to it than that, even. there is the marvel of broken, but not in pieces. the marvel that comes of when you slowly mend yourself, learning and changing and becoming something more the process, and the beauty grows. the ancient japanese art of kintsugi is the best example of this i have seen in a long time.

kintsugi, meaning "golden joinery" or "to patch with gold", is an ancient japanese technique for repairing broken porcelain, pottery and glass. it is about taking ugly breaks and bringing pieces back together in beauty. but instead of hiding the cracks, or trying to pretend a piece is as good as new, kintsugi artists carefully repair a broken vessel with sticky resin that hardens as it dries. they sand it until it's nearly imperceptible to the touch, and then they take a lacquer combined with real gold and adorn the crack.

photograph and information from here. video on kintsugi here.

they highlight the cracks. they honor the breaks, even as they remold the pieces. i have believed this for years. that we must be broken - and acknowledge our broken, even as we rebuild ourselves - to become our truest selves. being human is a messy, beautiful thing, and so worth it. and this messy, beautiful life - it's even better when shared. so please - like glennon said - "come sit with me and we can laugh and cry and be broken and beautiful together."