Sometimes I feel I am an egg: all hard on the outside; soft and mushy on the inside. If you touch me too hard, I might break. If you say the wrong thing, pieces of me might break off. When bad things happen, I suffer cracks. If I am an egg; I am an egg with a cracked eggshell.
But I am learning my cracks not only let light in; they also allow the light, I often forget I have in me, to shine through… maybe even to be a light for others to help them emerge from the dark - just as I am doing.
Kintsukuroi…also known as kintsugi, is a Japanese form of gold joinery. Literally it means to fill with gold. It is an art form and a form of philosophy. When pottery cracks, it is filled with gold or silver lacquer. The filling and the cracks become one as the pottery becomes whole once more. The piece of pottery is now more beautiful for its having been broken open and repaired. Looking at the piece of pottery reminds us that the breakage and repair are part of the object’s history and that it is its imperfection that makes the pottery more beautiful.
I wish we all took the time to look at each other with open eyes; eyes that would recognize that though we are broken, scarred, and imperfect; we can be healed. I wish we could each fill our cracks and brokenness with the golden joining of love, kindness, acceptance and compassion. Then, when we looked at one another, we would see the gold and realize that each of us has fallen, cried, been broken open, but are beautiful. And we would learn two things - (1) it is the broken, scarred, imperfect parts of us that unite us; (2) and that we all can heal and, once healed, are more beautiful because of the experience.
So, if I’m not an egg shining light for others,
I am a soul inside a body that is cracked -
just fill me full of gold
and call me whole,
healed and beautiful
for others to behold…
No comments:
Post a Comment