The Beauty of What Remains

I’m not perfect… and I’m okay with that.

Have you ever heard of Kintsugi?

It’s a Japanese art in which broken pottery is repaired using lacquer and gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, the repairs become a visible part of the piece’s history.

I think there’s something rather beautiful about that.

We live in a world where so much emphasis is placed on perfection. Perfect appearances, perfect relationships, perfect homes, perfect lives.

And yet, how many of us can honestly say our lives have turned out exactly as we imagined?

Mine certainly hasn’t.

There have been moments of great happiness, wonderful memories, and unexpected blessings. There have also been disappointments, mistakes, difficult decisions, and experiences I would never have chosen.

For many years, I think I was so busy getting through life that I didn’t always stop to appreciate how far I’d come.

But something has changed.

Not because my life has suddenly become perfect. It hasn’t.

Not because I have all the answers. I certainly don’t!

But because I’m learning to look at my life, and myself, a little differently.

I’m not perfect… and I’m okay with that.

Those words might sound simple, but I think there’s a certain freedom in being able to say them and genuinely mean them.

I can look back and recognise decisions I might make differently today. I can acknowledge things I didn’t know, opportunities I missed, and times when I wished I’d handled something better.

But I can also recognise the courage it took to keep going, the lessons I’ve learned and the choices that have gradually brought me to where I am today.

And I’m grateful.

Not for every painful experience. Some things should never have happened, and I don’t believe we need to pretend otherwise.

But I am grateful that those experiences haven’t taken away my ability to love, to laugh, to learn, to hope, or to find joy in the ordinary moments of life.

When I look at a piece of Kintsugi pottery, I don’t see something that needed to be broken to become valuable.

It was valuable before it broke.

And I think that’s important to remember about ourselves, too.

Our worth doesn’t begin when we’ve overcome something. It doesn’t depend on how well we hide our struggles or how successfully we put everything back together.

It was there all along.

The golden repairs simply tell us that there’s more to the story.

Perhaps that’s what I’ve come to appreciate most as I’ve grown older.

Life isn’t about reaching some imaginary point where everything is finally perfect.

It’s about recognising the journey, appreciating how far we’ve come and understanding that we’re still allowed to grow.

There are still things I want to learn, places I want to see, people I want to meet and experiences I want to enjoy.

There are still days when I get things wrong, change my mind, or wonder what on earth I’m doing!

And that’s okay.

I’m still learning. Still growing. Still discovering.

And, by the grace of God, I’m still here to enjoy the journey.

So perhaps today is a good day to stop looking at everything we think is missing, everything we wish we’d done differently, or everything we believe we should have become by now.

Perhaps it’s a good day to appreciate what remains.

The love. The laughter. The wisdom. The possibilities.

And the person we are today.

I’m not perfect… and I’m okay with that.

What about you?

Can you look at your own journey with a little more kindness and appreciate just how far you’ve come?

Narelle ❤️

Inspiring Words With Purpose