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Posts tagged ‘Japanese art’

Embrace Your Imperfections

Your imperfections
Are not the Creator’s fault.
Know, no one’s perfect!

We all have our faults.
And as we age, wrinkles show.
Otherwise you’re numb.

It’s our emotions
That birth our imperfections.
So, just embrace them!

In today’s Daily Guideposts, Bill Giovannetti ended his devotional with this prayer: “Lord, You alone are perfect. Help me be good with that. Amen.”

Bill shared that perfectionism lurks in the corners of his heart, always ready to pounce.

Do you have that problem? Do you expect yourself to write the perfect article, paint the perfect picture, bake the perfect cake, or create the perfect garden? Does the fear of making mistakes nag at you? Do your imperfections make you question your worth? Do you ever feel like covering your troubling issues by hiding in a box?

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Here are seven verses to help you lay down the idol of perfectionism and embrace your own weaknesses.

  • Romans 5:7-8. …
  • 2 Corinthians 12:9. …
  • James 3:2. …
  • Matthew 19:21. …
  • Galatians 1:10. …
  • 1 Thessalonians 2:4. …
  • Romans 8:15.

What does God say about perfectionism?

Romans 15:7
“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

God/Jesus doesn’t require your perfection, because He is the only one who is perfect. His acceptance of you can help you accept others with their flaws as well.

In this season of Thanksgiving,
I invite you to sit quietly with yourself.
Thank God for the way you are “wonderfully made,”
And give yourself a break.

As you listen to these relaxing hymns
of Thanksgiving and worship,
count your many blessings.
Embrace your imperfections,
and know they simply prove
you are human!

Are you familiar with “Kintsugi” or “Kintsukuroi”? This is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. The method is similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

Like repaired pottery, Kintsugi style, our imperfections are those cracks that allow room for the power and grace of God to fill us with the gold of humility, repentance, and dependence on Him.

Bill Giovannetti wrote, “… my worth before both God and those I love doesn’t depend on me being perfect. It just depends on me being me.”

Me being me!

“Help me be who You made me to be.
Help me accept myself with all my imperfections.
Help me, Lord, to relax in Your promise of acceptance.
Help me love unconditionally, refraining from judging others,
just as You love and accept me – just as I am.
In Jesus name, Amen.”

Thanks for visiting today.
I pray you see yourself as God’s beloved creation –
imperfections and all!

See ya tomorrow (God willing).
Love,
JanBeek

Embrace Helpers

Where would we be without the helpers in our lives?
Yesterday a young lady came and helped me clean my house.
Climbing ladders to get to light fixtures and getting down
on my hands and knees to do floors is just not in the cards
for this 82-year-old body any more. God bless my helper!

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

While I was getting help inside, Bob had two helpers out in the yard.
Like my inability to climb ladders and spend time on my knees,
Bob has discovered that his body has some new limitations, too.
It’s just not wise for him to try to trim the trees
or do all the weeding and hedging on his own.
Thank God for the young, strong helpers
who are willing to come and lend a hand!

Our daughter, DeAna, in Switzerland,
had need of repair this week.
She had polyps in her uterus.
Thank God, they were benign,
but they needed to be removed.
Thanks to the “helper” who used her gold dust
to repair/scrape De’s uterus and bring her
back to full health… more beautiful than ever!

Photo by Lisa on Pexels.com

Just as we need help with the physical work
as we add years to our bodies,
so do we need help with tasks
that are beyond our skill levels.

Today our daughter, Laina, discovered a problem she couldn’t fix.
A neighbor’s tree had lost a limb during a recent storm,
and the limb crashed through her guest bedroom window.
With the help of a gracious and talented helper,
she now has a new double-paned glass.
Thank God for helpers!

I am reading a book titled, “Life is Messy” by Matthew Kelly.
In it he describes the Japanese art of Kintsugi.
It is repairing broken objects with glue that has gold in it.

He wrote, “When a vase or bowl or cup is broken,
artists gather up the broken pieces and glue them back together.
…They mix gold dust with the glue. They don’t try to hide the cracks.
They own them, honor them, even accentuate them.”

Matthew Kelly’s point in bringing in the concept of Kintsugi
is that we all are broken and in need of repair.

He asks the question, “Can someone who has been broken
be healed, and become more beautiful and more lovable
than every before?”


And his resounding YES is illustrated by these repaired bowls.

He makes this point very clear:
“We are each other’s wounded healers.
We posses the gold dust needed to glue other people back together,
making them more beautiful and lovable than ever.”

Where would we be without the helpers in our lives?
Our broken souls would remain broken… and
Our sad hearts would break in two…
without those who love us with their gold dust of love
that glues us back together again!

Embrace Helpers…
Those who help us clean,
Those who help us garden,
Those who repair our cars
or fix our broken windows…
Those who help us heal…
God bless them all!

God bless YOU for being a helper.

I made sandwiches for those young people who
were out there helping Bob with his yard work.
We each can do our part – we all can be helpers!

How did you use your gold dust to help someone else today?

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