It is said you cannot repair broken pottery for it would not be as beautiful as when it was first crafted in the potter's hands...the Japanese disagree. They repair what was once broken and repair it with gold or silver lacquer making it even more beautiful and unique than before.

It is the same for us and our Father. He formed us with His hands, crafted us lovingly with patience, uniqueness, and beauty....in His image. 

Then, we become broken. Our lives we try to make our own...to do as we please...to be in control of our own destinies. Yet in this process, we become broken shards of pottery...shattered by our own sin, by the circumstances of life. We find that we are not beautiful. We are a pile of broken pottery with no hope of restoring our initial uniqueness and beauty. 

Some of us turn inward and continue the process of destroying ourselves. But some, we turn to the Master, our Potter, the One and Only who can mend the broken pieces.

Like the Japanese, He uses gold and silver to mend our broken pieces. And the process is difficult and hard on us...for us to be mended, we must be refined like the gold and silver...a long and difficult process! Yet, the end result is a piece that is more beautiful and unique because it was broken.

And sometimes, this process is on-going. For we have the tendency to want to tell the Master Potter how we should be mended. But just as in the beginning, He is patient and takes His time. It will be painful and challenging for us...yet we know that He knows us better than we know ourselves and we relinquish our control and surrender to His touch and  something that was once ugly and broken is becoming more beautiful in the process of mending the broken pieces.