There was a Japanese technique called Kintsugi, where broken porcelain was visibly repaired with gold. The idea was to reserve the porcelain and to keep it in its original shape and beauty. Later this technique was applied in mending on clothes that highlighted the mending work rather than masking it. Those who put “a dear but broken garment and mend it with gold.” as they remake their clothes, the repair becomes ornamental, a “golden scar.”
Perhaps this is something like what Paul meant when he said that he would “boast” in the
things that showed his weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:6-7) “Even if I should choose to boast, I
would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”
He begged God to take the thorn away. But God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Just as the rips and worns in old clothes can become sights of beauty as they’re remade, the broken and weak places in our lives can become places where God’s power and glory may shine. He holds us together, transforms us, and makes our weaknesses beautiful.