This Lenten Season I have taken up a new kind of writing. I am learning Haiku poetry. When I first started reading Haiku I thought, I don’t understand this kind of poetry and that bothered me. The writers group gave a challenge of writing some and I wanted to avoid it because it was so difficult to grasp and understand. What can I possibly write in a three line poem with 5 syllables in the 1st and 3rd line and 7 syllables in the 2nd? So, I’m learning how to use fewer words and that’s difficult for someone who sometimes uses too many. I’m probably not that good at Haiku, but I am re-learning some very valuable lessons from practicing this new style of writing that uses fewer words than I normally write in a poem or a thought.

I am re-learning about simplicity.

The simplest things that we miss on a regular daily basis – the beauty of God’s creation all around us. The colors, the smells, the sounds, the variety of grasses, flowers, trees, birds, clouds, water, you name it – so much we fail to pay attention to while we watch the news or rush from here to there. I’m also learning about using fewer words to communicate. I think I’m learning that Haiku isn’t so much about understanding the poetry as it is about sensing the world around us and using our God given senses attentively, instead of taking them for granted.

I am re-learning about Solitude.

The bible tells us that Jesus went away to be by himself from time to time. While most of the time I am alone when I’m writing, I often have noise in the background from the radio or stereo or you tube music selections. Pretty sure Jesus didn’t have those distractions when he went away to be in solitude. So while I’m writing my Haiku and thinking about the Haiku, I do not have those distractions going on either. This gives me even more attentiveness to the sights and sounds of the beauty available to me even while I live ‘in town,’ with neighbors in close proximity on all four sides of our home.

I am re-learning about Serenity.

I cannot change what time the birds arrive or leave or the songs they sing, which direction the wind blows or how still the air is. I cannot control the ebb and flow of the water in the river or when it will rain, hail, sleet or snow, I cannot change how a rabbit lives or make them stop digging holes. I cannot change a tree – but all these things can change the day for me and it is in my own choosing as to whether or not I will embrace every part of nature and call it good or not. I can change me, my attitude about and towards everything there is in this life and world, I can love, unconditionally, the world around me and loving the world, I can try to do a better job at helping myself and others find beauty in every day. Even when the burdens of life may be heavy with care and love for friends and family who are ill, grieving or struggling in other ways. There is beauty in every day, freely given to us by our Creator and Creative God, simply because he Loves.

Let us Pray,

Lord, thank you for beauty,
for giving us night and day
for loving us all.

AMEN