Some Inspiration: Beauty, Brokenness, and Japanese Pottery

Seeing ThingsHave you ever been blindly in love? So blind that you only saw your lover’s best side? An idealised version of themselves that totally missed all their faults.Japanese PotteryI’ve been reading ‘How to be a free range human’ by Marianne Cantwell and loving it. She writes about how to create the career that you love, a subject close to my heart. She recently sent me this:“When a prized ceramic bowl develops cracks, the cracks are filled with gold. Instead of throwing the piece out and saying “it’s not good enough anymore” (or just turning it to the wall and hoping no one notices) the cracks are highlighted. What’s more this process – called kintsugi – increases the worth of the item and make it into an even more valuable piece of art.You see, in their eyes, the life of the bowl, and the lines in the process of its becoming, are part of its beauty and value.The same is true for you.In an airbrushed, glossified, image-managed world it can be easy to forget that the most successful (yet happy…), impactful and just all round lovely-people-to-be-with don’t buy into the perfect gloss image.Instead they are the ones with the most glaring imperfections (yet we hardly see as imperfections any more because they have owned them rather than hidden in shame. Slid into their own skin and made ‘that thing’ a part of who they are, not something to hide).” – Marianne CantwellI believe that God (the Universe if you prefer)  looks at us and sees our beauty with great clarity and love. He sees our faults too, and challenges us on them, to help us become more beautiful. But above all He looks at us and just sees us as utterly wonderful, beautiful, funny people. He sees our potential and he sees our being – a being that He created.Today, ask God to help you see yourself as He does. Get ready for an adventure!RestorationMy mother is a porcelain restorer. She painstakingly puts broken porcelain back together – sometimes when it has been shattered into 1000s of pieces. I think God restores us too.She is so busy restoring all the porcelain of Oxfordshire that she hardly advertises. In fact, I think the people of Henley must throw it at each other, because she is endlessly busy. However, I’ve decided to put her on the web. Introducing my mother: Margaret Campbell, Porcelain Restorer, nr Henley-on-Thames. Enquiries 01491 638618. Say I sent you. Ring during office hours or risk the wrath of an artist. Prices start from about £35 I think.