“Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”                                                                                                                          Isaiah 64:8

We often hear the phrase “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” This statement is certainly a valid assumption with regard to individual appraisals, but it is also true on a cultural level. A clear example of this concept can be seen in the unique Japanese pottery technique known as kintsugi (金継ぎ), which means “joining with gold.” Unlike normal pottery creations that strive for perfection and uniformity, kintsugi begins with brokenness. This ancient artform centers on joining broken pottery pieces together using a special lacquer-based glue mixed with powdered gold. The intended overall effect is to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the object despite its obvious repairs.

Kintsugi is a deliberate form of flawed beauty which captures the ancient Japanese aesthetic principle known as wabi-sabi, where the values of imperfection, transience and incompleteness are integral elements in artistic creation. For example, Japanese flower arrangements (ikebana), gardens, paintings and tea ceremonies often incorporate these rather unusual qualities.

The art of kintsugi serves as a visual reminder that we can turn life’s adversities and brokenness into something that is beautiful and resilient. Rather than attempting to hide or disguise damage, repairs are purposefully highlighted in this special artform. As such, kintsugi is a powerful object lesson that exhorts us to embrace our imperfections and find solace that our wounds, whatever they may be, can serve a worthwhile purpose. God can take broken people and broken plans to accomplish His perfect and eternal objectives.

A prime example of this is the captivating story portrayed in the Book of Esther. The events described in this brief book take place after the golden age of King Solomon had faded to a distant memory. The magnificent temple of God and Jerusalem have both been reduced to rubble and God’s people are enslaved in the foreign land of Persia. While this powerful story has many unexpected twists and turns as the plot unfolds, it shines a spotlight on God and His divine purposes without ever mentioning His name. It is a compelling tale of redemption, where God takes a broken people and restores them to prominence among the nations through a series of very unusual but exciting events. In this story a commoner named Esther becomes queen and her Jewish protector, Mordecai, is unexpectedly elevated to a position of authority second only to the king himself. “For such a time as this” (Esther 4:14), a young woman was sovereignly used by God to repair the fortunes of a shattered people to demonstrate to the surrounding nations God’s incredible handiwork of mercy and power. Like the art of kintsugi, God redeems what is broken and makes it even more beautiful in a fallen world.

It is good to recall that God is engaged in the business of redeeming people as broken objects and re-creating them as vessels of grace and beauty for His eternal purposes. “For such a time as this,” God reassembles the fragmented parts of our lives in ways unimaginable and often unseen, in order to bestow His unmerited blessings upon a needy world. Beauty is indeed in the eyes of the beholder and by the grace of God it comes from our broken pieces. As the master potter, God does all the work and He gets all the glory.