We’ve got this

Come Follow Me D&C 23-26

Kintsugi

The Japanese tradition of repairing broken pottery with gold

The question of why bad things happen, seems to come up often in my life. I have had many conversations with a variety of people, from a variety of backgrounds about this topic. I have had a lot of difficult experiences in my life. Not just in my childhood years, but as an adult, I have faced many trials. The question of why is a simple one, but the answer can be complex. When I am asked about why bad things happen, or why some people seem to have a lot of trials, sometimes I talk about agency in my answer. Sometimes, I talk about trusting in Heavenly Father’s plan and how we go through things so that we can become like Him and live with Him again. Sometimes, I answer that question by talking about how trials remind us of our need for the atonement and the Savior. Other times, I talk about how life is a test.

Some years ago, I answered the question of why, with a hypothetical question. The teenager I was speaking to, had been through a lot, and I was struggling to find a good way to explain why we should believe in a God who allows bad things to happen to us. I asked my friend to imagine that after he died, he was given charge over one life, and that he got to make all of the decisions about what would happen to a boy who hadn’t been born yet. Then I asked him to imagine what kind of character he’d want this boy to have, whose life he was now in charge of. Together we came up with a list of attributes. The list included kindness, compassion, strength, and courage. Once the list was complete, I asked this question, “to develop these characteristics, where would you put him, this boy? Where would you have him be born? Would you have him be born in a palace with lots of toys and goodies? A place with lots of people to look after his every need and fulfill his every want?” The young man could see where this was going and stayed quiet. “No, you wouldn’t? Would you?” I let the question sit between us for a minute, and then I answered, “No. You’d put him somewhere difficult, because you know that hard things and hard places make us strong.” The teenager I was talking to was the perfect example of this truth. He took the experiences from his very painful childhood and made the world a better place by becoming an incredibly loving, caring, loyal, compassionate, and generous young man.

It is in experiencing unkindness that our desire for more kindness is born. It is when we see or experience abuse that we are reminded of how much love and caring the world needs. It is only in times when our strength and courage are tested, that we discover reserves of more strength and courage than we thought we had. It is during these times that our character grows, and become something better than what we were.

In the Come Follow Me reading this week, we read one of my favorite scriptures. It is the Lord talking to Joseph Smith:

“Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of they days.”
-D&C 24:8

The Savior tells us many times in the scriptures that we are going to have trials. He calls them afflictions and tribulations. But he always, ALWAYS, promises to be there with us in them. I can find His promise to be with us 17 times in the scriptures:

Isaiah 41:10 / Isaiah 43:2&5 / Joshua 1:9 / Deuteronomy 31:6 / Leviticus 26:12 / Jeremiah 1:8&19 / Genesis 26:24 / Genesis 28:15 / Jeremiah 15:20 / 1 Samuel 14:7 / Genesis 31:3 / Jeremiah 30:11 / Jeremiah 46:28 / Acts 18:10 / D&C 39:12 / D&C 132:49 / D&C 24:8

In Japan there is an ancient tradition of repairing broken pottery with gold; it’s called Kintsugi. The artist takes broken pottery pieces and repairs them back into their original form using gold to seal the cracks. It turns the shattered piece into a beautiful and whole work of art. The new pottery highlights the fractures and transforms simple bowls and plates into amazing keepsakes. Each one is unique.

I love that there can be beauty in our brokenness too, if we allow ourselves to be broken and then repaired with the transforming power of becoming more like our Savior. Through this process we become whole, and we change into something better than what we were in the beginning. We don’t need to stay broken. We can be healed and transformed into a beautiful, whole, and transformed disciple. The Savior’s promise to us this week as we read our Come Follow Me is so clear: I am right there with you in your hard times. We’ve got this, you and me together. We’ll face this head on.

There will be hard times, and alone, it might break us. Shatter our lives. But with the Savior right next to us, supporting us, comforting us, giving us His strength, we are transformed and our lives become a beautiful piece of work.