Beautiful Souls

“Because He Himself was tested through what He suffered, He is able to help those who are being tested.” Hebrews 2:18

I remember what my sister said a long time ago, that when one experiences hardship, one is able to be compassionate with others and help them. My brother has experienced much suffering in his life. That’s why he is able to feel deeply for others. I was able to talk to a young woman once, who told me that if not for my brother taking an interest in her, mentoring her, and teaching her to paint, she would have committed suicide. And she told me there were many he has been able to help. 

Sometimes we think, why is God allowing this terrible thing to happen to me? Is it just to break us? God’s ways are higher than ours, and although we may find it difficult to fathom, there is always a reason for it, a plan that we do not see. He is the grand weaver, and He will perhaps one day reveal to us His intricate and magnificent design. 

I have long been fascinated by the Japanese art of kintsukuroi, which means golden repair, being a person who likes to reuse and recycle everything from toilet paper rolls and blister packs. In Japan, instead of throwing away broken pieces of pottery, they put it back together and mend the fragments with lacquer mixed with gold. In their thinking, breakage and repair is part of the history of an object, and not something to hide or disguise in shame. As is often the case, the mended pottery turns out more beautiful, and potters have been accused of intentionally breaking pots in order to repair them with gold. 

Is that the case with our potter? Does God intentionally allow hardship in our life in order to break us and mend us, and as a result we become more beautiful to Him? Sometimes we are hard, self-centered, and unfeeling. God loves us too much to allow us to stay that way. He will bend us, break us, mold us, until we become the best version of ourselves. Canadian philosopher and entrepreneur, Matshona Dhliwayo wrote, “Beautiful souls are shaped by ugly experiences.”