What will we do with all the broken things? What will we do with the world, our feelings of frustration, our struggle with God?
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold. It’s not just a practice, but it’s a meditation. Because the pottery is made stronger and more beautiful when it breaks, one might understand that the “breaking” itself was part of process to begin with: it wasn’t ruined, it was transformed.
Rumi said, “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” Not only did Rumi parse out the difference between cleverness and wisdom, but he demonstrates that it is day to day that we grow. Yesterday I thought I was clever, but today I am wise.
Working on our own hearts is not a luxury. It is a painful process. Things break; things are remade stronger. As we transform from our clever selves to our wise selves, the love and compassion and empathy that grow within us fortify the spirit in a beautiful transformation.
—Jessica Lien, Prairiewoods development coordinator