Along with warmth and flowers, spring can bring a sense of renewal. Renewal is just what it sounds like: to make something new again. But those of us who have ever tried to fix something that is broken know that nothing is ever put back to the way it was. For example, have you ever broken a piece of pottery? You can glue the vase back together again, but the cracks are still there. It will never quite be the way it was before.

The Japanese have an art called kintsugi. Broken pottery is repaired using lacquer sprinkled with powdered gold. It is evident that the pottery has been cracked. The difference is that the crack is now beautiful. Instead of the crack being hidden, the brokenness makes the pottery more interesting.

Life’s winter can lead to cracks in our hands and our hearts, but you know what Jesus does? He fixes us. When He says He will make us new creations, that doesn’t mean we will be exactly the way we were before. We will be better, after being repaired by the master craftsman. As the Psalmist wrote, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” God’s work in us makes us like new again: flaws, cracks and all. And when we are renewed, we can show others that Jesus can repair their cracks too. Let us reach our world by being beautiful examples of God’s work in us by the Holy Spirit.           

This is Luis Palau.