Beautifully Broken

Beautifully Broken:  have you heard this tune by Gov't Mule?  It was released around 2001, I believe, but I didn't discover it until after 2004.  The melody and lyrics are haunting and yet beautiful at the same time.  The guitar licks and riffs in the beginning and closer to the end draw you in.  The steady beat of the drum is like a heartbeat - not too fast, not too slow -- the sort of heartbeat you feel when you're about to have that first kiss with a new man. 

But I'm haunted by the lyrics.  Because I've always felt "broken".  There are things within me that are broken, but the flaws aren't usually visible.  I keep them closely hidden, waiting for the right man to draw them out and tell me it's ok, that I'm ok.   and yes, still waiting!  haha

To be a beautifully broken girl means to see our brokenness not as a punishment but as someone's misuse of our own empathy and kindness.  Someone who is beautifully broken doesn't really have much to give other than the broken pieces of their heart they hope is enough.




The Japanese have a word: kintsugi. Wikipedia describes it as the art and philosophy of repairing a broken object with elegance and grace using gold or silver, not hiding the imperfection but honoring and embracing it as part of the history of the object. This “golden joinery” turns the flaw into something unique and quite more beautiful than before because now, something precious shines through the cracks. 



I think that could apply to most of us.  We've all had mishaps, things go wrong, bad things happen.  Mostly through no fault of our own.  And yet when we repair the broken, we almost always want to  make it invisible.  Or, we can celebrate the brokenness with something beautiful, such as gold or silver. 

Life is what we make it.  We have to believe in ourselves, flaws and all. 
And sometimes, we just need to be a little more open to others
and not mind the flaws that are exaggerated in our own minds.
Just because we were broken in the past,
that doesn't mean we're still broken!

I'm so beautifully broken,
mysterious,
blown in with the night
all this beauty
captured in a frame
visibly shaken but never stirred