the grace of spiritual kintsugi

I gazed through the haze that creates a thin veil between there and here.  Ready to begin my journey, I had but one more task.  As I neared the threshold, I noticed just that side of the gateway stood shelves filled with vessels of all sorts and sizes and shapes and materials.  Of course, my eyes were drawn to a piece of Raku pottery.  The beauty of the mingled colors and the rough texture of this piece of Japanese pottery called to me.  Holding the Raku heart gently in my spirit hands, I crossed the threshold between then and  now.

Throughout the years I have carried this vessel, and it has carried me.  As I have slipped, and slid, banged and bounced through this life, my Raku heart has become chipped and cracked.  With each lesson learned and each challenge met, those chips and cracks have been mended. 

In the healing I experienced the spiritual practice of kintsugi. When pottery is cracked, broken, or chipped in Japan, potters use the process of kintsugi to repair the Raku.  Seams are fused together and gouges filled with gold.  The repair makes the vessel stronger, more durable.

Our life lessons and challenges often cause stress fractures in our self.  Then the light of the Sacred can flow through illuminating a new way.  As we learn the lessons and meet the challenges, we heal.  We seal the cracks and fill the gouges.  We may not look or act or think the same, but we are stronger and more able to walk our path. 

Perhaps my piece of spiritual Raku does not look the same as it did before, but it is a thing of beauty.  At any given moment, the light of grace shines through the cracks.  In yet other moments, the gold of healing grace repairs the vessel.  And, in the beauty of spiritual kintsugi shines a life well lived.

Wishing you the grace of spiritual kintsugi in your life,

Vanessa