The Golden Joinery of Our Lives

10/21/2025

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

“Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart… Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:6, 10)

“Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life... and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24)

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)

“Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17)

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)

“Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)

“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.” (Malachi 4:2)

“Kintsugi” (金継ぎ) means “golden joinery.” It is what Life and the Author of Life do with all of us—if we are paying attention. The story of failure is better than the story of success.

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with tree sap lacquer—dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Rather than disguising the breaks, kintsugi embraces the imperfections by filling the cracks with precious metals, making the repaired piece even more beautiful and valuable than the original unbroken vessel. Unique.

The philosophy behind kintsugi declares loudly that breakage and repair are part of the history and unique story of an object, rather than something to disguise or discard. Kintsugi celebrates flaws and imperfections as adding character, resilience, and preciousness. The mended cracks are a mark of an object’s journey and survival, making it more authentic, resilient, and valuable than if it had remained pristine and unbroken. Unbroken is easy. The Journey is more difficult and unique.

In essence, kintsugi is the Japanese art and philosophy of taking broken ceramics and repairing them with gold-dusted lacquer, transforming the imperfections into unique stories, actually enhancing the repaired piece’s beauty AND value.

We have all seen the art and wondered why it looked like that. And we all have seen friends and family and others, and wondered how they could be so deep and rich.

Thank you. Very cool to read about.

It seems that minute by minute, I find myself pausing—talking to God:
“Help. You are Welcome here.”

Still talking too much after the Supply.
Still caught in the process of daily groanings over my lost “wholeness”—my sense of self that’s being challenged at its core.

It’s hard to put words on the deep sense of “Get closer!!!”

So much teaching that has yet to be Made Flesh in me.

Purify my heart/mind, Lord, seems in order. To have a “clean heart,” we have to let Him crush our outer facade (residual self), so that He can fix what’s Beyond repair.

He reaps where He didn’t “sow.” Satan sowed seeds of pride, ego, lust, avoiding pain into our very nature—while God’s Spirit in us keeps leaking out—leaking out through our broken cracks, and That’s how this World will Know He’s Alive. Our Love of Truth, our willingness to be crushed, and His Golden Life make us His Masterpiece—a tree from a pile of rocks.

I often feel like a tree in the process of being “petrified” as the washing of His word renews my mind. The rotting wood/flesh-minerals are being replaced with Heaven’s DNA, and I’m slowly—atom by atom—(for lack of a better word) being transformed into His Likeness; at least, that’s my honest heart’s desire.

If we try to act like we aren’t “broken” or repaired, it’s a foul stench to both the one who is pretending and the one watching. Hypocrisy will always fill the cracks with illusions, and lies, and fool’s gold.

So I looked up someone trying to use pyrite (“fool’s gold”) for kintsugi. They would find the repair to be brittle, unstable, and prone to breaking down over time. Unlike real gold, pyrite is not a stable material suitable for the traditional Japanese repair method. Kintsugi (“golden joinery”) is the art of repairing broken pottery with a special lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. The method celebrates flaws by making the repair a conspicuous feature of the piece, turning the breakage into part of its unique history. The key differences between gold and pyrite are what would cause this endeavor to fail.

Why pyrite fails for kintsugi:

• Oxidization and decomposition: Pyrite is iron sulfide. When exposed to oxygen and moisture in the air, it oxidizes and rusts, forming sulfuric acid and iron oxides. This reaction would cause the seams of the repaired pottery to crumble and disintegrate over time, releasing a sulfurous smell.
• Brittleness: Pyrite is a hard but brittle mineral. If a hammer were to strike both pyrite and gold, the gold would flatten, while the pyrite would shatter into a powdery mess. This makes powdered pyrite a weak and unreliable filler compared to a metal like gold, which can be worked into a durable lacquer.
• Lack of metallic luster: While its brassy color can mimic gold, pyrite’s streak (the color of its powder) is greenish-black, not golden. When mixed with lacquer, the end result would be duller and darker than a true golden shine.
• Incompatible with traditional lacquer: Authentic kintsugi uses urushi, a natural lacquer derived from tree sap. Pyrite’s decomposition creates acidic byproducts that would likely react poorly with the lacquer, further compromising the repair’s integrity.

Could it also be true that... had the item been merely on display, perhaps behind glass in a locked cabinet, it would never have been broken? Only by being put to the task it was made for, and coming under some pressure beyond its current strength, did it break? Only by actually doing something with what it was did it have the chance to fail?

So maybe, the story the Master has of each piece is a tale He loves to tell, because He delights in the brokenness that comes from working, not displaying, and the cooperation with the reBuilding, and the breathtaking results.

This collection is His Treasure. And it gives Him the full range of tools for His daily work. And He doesn’t display them in a locked cabinet behind glass. He keeps them right with Him, freely using them, knowing their quality has come from His own hands. They aren’t just artwork, they actually work. And He can repair any crack or break that shows up while they try to do the job they were made for. So there is no fear, for Him, or for His treasures.

Just marveling at what it means to be in His hands. : )

•  Searching for More Jesus