I Am Flawsome

Dear Friends,

I learned a new word last week and that word is 'Flawsome'! 

One evening last week, my husband, brother-in-law and I attended the 'Honesty Over Silence' Tour run by Kintsugi Hope. Kintsugi Hope was founded by Patrick Regan and Diane Regan and the tour is based on Patrick's book with the same title.

"'Kintsugi' is a Japanese technique for repairing pottery with seams of gold. The word means “golden joinery” in Japanese. This repairs the brokenness in a way that makes the object more beautiful, and even more unique than it was prior to being broken. Instead of hiding the scars it makes a feature of them." (kintsugihope.com)

I am broken. We are all broken in different ways. Yet, when we hand our brokenness over to Jesus he creates something even more beautiful with our lives. We don't need to pretend that we are perfect, we don't need to pretend we have it all together. With him, we can be who we are and know we are fully loved and accepted.

When we are honest around others about our brokenness and our flaws, it allows them to be the same. Each of us needs to learn to accept ourselves and in doing so we encourage others to accept themselves too.

So, flawsome - what does that mean? It's the words 'flaw' and 'awesome' combined and means 'an individual who embraces their flaws and knows they're awesome regardless'.

I had mixed feelings about this word to start with. I didn't have a problem with the 'flaw' part. I'm very aware of my own flaws. It was the 'awesome' part of the word I struggled with. I think because, to me, the only one I would ever describe as awesome is God. It's not a word I tend to generally use and definitely not one I would use myself. However, the more I think about it, the more I like the word.

Ephesians 2:10 is one of my favourite verses:

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (NLT).

I love that you and I are God's masterpieces - not because of ourselves and what we may have achieved but because the master artist (God himself) has made us as such. Do I think he looks at me and you, and says, "You are awesome!"? Yes, I think perhaps he does. But not because we have become that ourselves but because he is an awesome God who does not create rubbish or make mistakes.

There's a verse in Psalm 139 which says something very similar:

I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. Psalm 139:14 (HCSB)

If all I see and concentrate on are my flaws, then I am not seeing myself as God sees me. I am actually telling God that what he has made is not good enough. Equally, if I have the opinion that I am awesome then I have too high an opinion of myself. I become proud and will look down on others and see them as less than me and not worthy of my time or attention.

However, if I believe that I am flawsome, I accept that I am imperfect, that I am someone who makes mistakes and gets things wrong, but I won't beat myself up about them because I have Christ living in me and he gives me grace and love. He helps me to see myself as God sees me and I can agree with Paul when he says:

I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return]. Philippians 1:6 (AMP)

It's not just about seeing myself as God sees me, but also importantly, seeing others as God sees them. Recognising their flaws and scars tell a story of who they are and that also because they are God's wonderful creation that they have worth and value. Loving them as God loves them and appreciating them for who they are.

To Think About:

How do you feel about the word 'flawsome'?

Are you honest with yourself and others about your own flaws? What do you think helps you to be more open in sharing?

Can you accept that God has made you his masterpiece? Can you accept the way he's created you to be? If you struggle with this, what do you think might help you?

Vicki

PS I first came across the term 'Kintsugi' when reading Claire Musters' book, "Taking Off The Mask". She wrote a guest post for me (Beauty out of Brokenness) back in November 2017. If you're interested in reading it, please click here: here.

If you enjoyed reading this devotional blog, then you may like to know that I have two devotional books both of which are available to buy from Amazon. (The content of these books is material adapted from past blog posts.)

This is my latest book, published in November 2018.

"Dear Friend...52 Weekly Devotions to Encourage, Challenge and Inspire" Volume 2. 

The book's format is the same as my first one with the added extra of room for journalling after each devotion. To learn more, click here

"Dear Friend... Vol 1 is available from Amazon as a paperback book and also to download on Kindle.

To learn more, please click here






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