STAY GOLDEN.

Photo by Emma Matthews Content Production on Unsplash

Gold (or golden, as many of my preschoolers call it) is one of my favorite colors. There's something about the shine and the shimmer that makes me smile. I've never had a big sweet tooth, but take me to the home decor aisles of TJ Maxx, and all of the gold decorations have me wide-eyed like a kid in a candy store.

Gold has become even more special to me lately as I've seen analogy after analogy of the process of refinement in the Bible and have discovered the Japanese art of Kintsugi as well. In the Bible, there are numerous verses that use the analogy of a refiner's proving of gold in the fire with God's refinement of our lives/hearts. The process isn't easy, the gold undergoes direct heat, and the refining does just that, it cleanses out and removes the impurities. And I think that's true of how God refines our lives as well. It's a process, often involving pain, but it leaves us with pure, refined hearts as a result. The refining itself is necessary to get the gold, that is, each step in the process can't be skipped or rushed (which is really just a truth that my own heart needs to hear in this current season!).

In the art of Kintsugi, broken ceramic pieces--such as bowls--are repaired with gold. The finished and repaired product displays and thus embraces its brokenness as part of its history. And to be honest, I think there's some wisdom in this mentality. To embrace and display our scars, our battle wounds, and our experiences and to not just show how we've healed and repaired ourselves since they've occurred, but to show it off with gold, too.

All this to say, gold is even more significant in my life--so if you spot a stay golden mug or home decor piece out there, let this girl over here know! Also, if you've got a story behind your favorite color, I'd love to hear it!

"I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory." 1st Peter 1:7, MSG