Golden Healing

In East Asia the Japanese use what is called Kintsugi. This is the art of repairing broken objects with gold. Because the "flaw" reveals its history. The resulting piece is then considered more beautiful and much more valuable than it was when it was brand new.

This tradition known as kintsugi meaning "Golden Seams" is still going strong today. But in this story I want you to look at the seams of your life where you've been broken. Most of us have a hard time and often panic when it comes to being broken or hurt in any way in our life rather by our family or a relationship wreck or even by our dreams that just seem to all go up in smoke. But it’s the recovery that I want you to zoom in on here.

In Japan when the bowl fell and broke, it became a piece ready for greatness, not the trash can. Many times we feel that because we've been broken we are done for and there is no further reason to even try to live or be happy ever again.

It's the putting back together of your life that changes everything. Yes, people, friends, and family will see that you have been broken, they will see the seams, but the seams will declare your victory, not your defeat. Just like the flaws in the pottery in Japan revealed each broken piece's history, your seams will tell your story of victory over what broke you.

Sometimes, to be better we must first be worst, in some of life's episodes "we have to lose to win." It doesn’t feel good and it oftentimes places us in the valley of don't know. I'm sure that when the owner of the broken pot first saw it, they didn't know if it would ever serve any further purpose. But thank God for friends who see further than we do when we are broken. We only see the place where we crashed, but true friends see beyond that place and visualize our recovery while we're still bleeding at the crash site. I call them paramedic friends. They are able to see beyond the accident or crash site and see us in the victory circle.

I think that everyone should have at least one or two paramedic friends in their lifetime. These kinds of friends are few and far between but if you happen to find one, hold on to them. They see your value even when you don't and others fail to acknowledge it. They cheer for you before, during, and after life's games win or lose.

They saw you at your greatest and they saw you after you were broken. This is one of the reasons the seams that show you have been put back together are laced with Gold. The gold represents the love that surrounds you. What you thought would take you out has now given you bragging rights to victory.

As we are broken throughout life, our being put back together by people who care and who truly love us makes our value greater and greater.

Relationship wrecks are one of the most common breaking points in life. True love pulls us beyond ourselves. That’s why it is no longer selfish. It focuses outside of and beyond ourselves. So life as we know it changes when we fall in love. We lose ourselves in the introduction to a new self. There is no steering wheel, no control. This causes a lot of people to fear being in love. We get used to being as in control as possible but love goes beyond us as we know ourselves. When we give up control to love someone we don’t know the outcome, we don’t know all the time if the person we love loves us or will ever love us. Simply put, we have lost our emotional control and fallen in love. Now, seemingly the only hope is that the person we love feels the same way. Oh, what a beautiful thing when the one we love loves us back. What a dream come true, a true life Hall Mark Movie is then made in our hearts. But sadly, this is not always the case. 

When I was a young boy I used to hear grown-ups say “Man Saturday night I got torn up.” That meant he or she had been drinking until they were just torn up and either passed out or went home and went to sleep or worse, started a fight and cursed somebody out or something. But when they said I saw him and he was so torn down, that meant his woman or something had hurt him so bad he no longer resembled a strong man or wise individual.

When a man or a woman is in love but not loved back they often end up Emotionally Banished from a relationship. They are together to the natural eye but separated in the heart's eye. They live in the same house, sleep in the same bed but share no emotions. They are not one but (2) separate hearts...Once the banishment starts their voices of truth remain inside. When they fuss and fight they speak only what they need to speak in order to defend themselves while their true feelings remain hidden deep inside. At this point, one of the strongest desires is that someone, anyone will hear the voice inside the sorrow.

It is often during and after these kinds of life experiences that we find ourselves stronger, smarter, and better than we've ever been. Our value is higher than ever and our beauty now shines through the cracks where we were once broken.