Kintsugi – the Japanese art of taking broken or cracked pottery and turning flaws into beauty.
It takes about three months to repair a ceramic piece with kintsugi because of the slow curing time of urushi lacquer. Kintsugi is only applied to the most precious ceramics, or those carrying deep sentimental value.
The process is costly. Not just because of the gold used, but because of the care, skill, and time it demands.
And yet—why do we expect those who are more precious to God than all the gold in the hills to heal quickly? Healing from trauma, grief, and loss is rarely immediate. More often, it’s slow, deliberate, and steady.
God is the Master Healer, far more skilled than any artisan. Yet we often push others—or even ourselves—to hurry through pain because we are uncomfortable with the waiting. We want quick fixes, tidy answers, and healing without any visible scars.
But God, in His wisdom, knows the process itself carries immeasurable value. In the slowing down, He refines, restores, and binds wounds with lasting care. What feels delayed to us is purposeful to Him, because He is shaping beauty that only time and His touch can reveal.
In that time, the Master Repairer works with tender patience, bringing refining and restoration into the very places we thought would remain broken. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).
Until next time,
©2025 Katherine Walden
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