Potter and Clay

There’s something about fixing what’s broken and restoring what’s tattered and worn that intrigues me. My husband, 3 children, and I have “fixed up” several houses and found joy in the process of removing the old and replacing with the new. In much of the same way, our Father God is also in the restoration business. He takes what’s been battered and bruised, and works his miraculous redemption to create something beautiful out of what’s been broken.

The Bible makes a number of references to the Father as the Potter and we as his clay. This is why I love the theme of pottery and kintsugi, or kintsukuroi, the Japanese art form of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. This method treats breakage as a beautiful enhancement of the vessel rather than something to disguise. To me, the lines of gold on these vessels represent the hand of God working in ours lives when we give him all our shattered pieces.