I wasn’t going to share this with anyone else; I wrote it for myself. But, all day I kept hearing the words – “Identify your gold” and I realized it was NOT just for me. Those three words are for ALL of us. They are for YOU.
GOLDEN REPAIR
Even after shattering my silence and embracing my own buried shame – even after healing from the years of consequences and regrets and failures – even after finding purpose from my pain, STILL I question my worth and my value. STILL sometimes I only see the broken places, and the cracks in my armor. Yesterday as I listened to someone who said my book helped them so much; that every single line stood out on its own merit – I cried, and I marveled at how THAT is even possible. Because I still only see broken. “Perhaps you are overvaluing what you don’t have, and undervaluing what you DO have.” (Jon Peterson)
I then remembered the Japanese art of Kintsugi that I wrote about in my first book. Kintsugi means “golden repair” which is the art of taking broken pottery pieces and mending the broken parts with a lacquer that is mixed with powdered gold. Wow – putting them back together with GOLD. Ironically, gold does not corrode as it is first purified in the fire before it is applied as a sealer in the broken pottery pieces. It had to go through the fire to get its indestructible nature.
Instead of getting rid of broken vessels, the golden repair enhances the broken places, the fractures – calling to attention their uniqueness, revealing their ability to be of greater purpose. It teaches us to understand that in our own lives there is always beauty – even from our most broken roads, and even from our most shattered parts. It just takes an artist’s perspective and a healer’s touch.
None of us will ever see our own full potential without the process of embracing our own imperfections, and understanding the value of our broken parts..
FINDING MY GOLD
All of a sudden I realized that my writing is NOT just an outlet or my safe place or not even just my purpose – it is the GOLD that God has used to fill in the cracks. The gold in me IS the words – IS my writing. The painful experiences I have endured and survived is now transformed into a healing balm for the wounds of others. It really is the whole ‘pain to purpose’ I often refer to.
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” (Proverbs 24:11) The right words spoken (or written) at the exact right time, are like beautiful apples of gold presented in a beautiful silver bowl, and meant to be SHARED. “In King Solomon’s day, when a banquet was given by an Eastern king it was customary to present each guest with a golden apple. These golden apples were placed upon the tables in lovely baskets of silver filigree work, and then through the meshes the glittering fruit delighted the guests.” (ministrymagazine.com)
I have been truly surprised at what I have been able to do, that I would have NEVER thought I COULD do. Without the pain causing the broken parts/ cracks in my pottery, so to speak – then the light subdued within me (or the voice that was muted) would have never had opportunity to shine forth.
I think possibly/maybe for the very FIRST time I really and truly SEE the gold in ME. My words fitly spoken (written) is how He healed me, and how He has chosen to increase the value of my brokenness. My broken parts are no longer a source of shame to me. I see the beauty now. Brokenness created something priceless within me that is now a precious treasure I can freely share with others. We are never beyond repair; never too broken; never too far gone, but that God’s gift of grace can come and repair us. Discarded can become a priceless masterpiece.
FIND YOUR GOLD
“Don’t let anybody tell you that you’re not loved.
And don’t let anybody tell you that you’re not enough.
Yeah, there are days that we all feel like we’re messed up
But the truth is that we’re all diamonds in the rough.”
(“Gold” by Britt Nicole)
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18) Wow – “the glory revealed in us.” THAT is the GOLD shining brightly for all to see. Amazing God we serve.
“Anne Frank was a teenage Jewish girl who kept a diary while her family was in hiding from the Nazis during World War II. For two years, she and seven others lived in a “Secret Annex” in Amsterdam before being discovered and sent to concentration camps. Anne died in the Bergen-Belsen camp in 1945.” (Wikipedia) And after all the horror and abuse she endured and suffered through, she is quoted in her diary as saying – “I don’t think of all the misery but of all the BEAUTY that remains.”
So, let me gently tell YOU to – identify YOUR gold. Know your worth. See your value. You, my friend, are pure gold – but remember, gold is tried, refined, and purified in the fire.
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