Words familiar still

Live deep within not followed

Birds sing dawn will come

(Haiku, by Anna Hebb, 3/2/2025)

I was in elementary school when my English teacher taught me how to write a haiku. At a young age, I loved the ability to express my emotions in a 5-7-5 rhythm. I still see the construction paper with a tree and falling autumn leaves. Although I can’t remember the exact lines of the poem, I remember talking about the leaves looking like the rain in color. My teacher and mother praised me for my creativity. I recently finished the series Shogun, and Japanese poetry was a prominent theme.

I’m up early this morning and reflecting on a marriage retreat my husband and I attended on Friday and Saturday. I’ve been to many of these, and we went with an open heart and no expectations—just go. I could write a week’s worth of posts about what we learned, but for some reason, my heart says to quiet my soul and let it be. Rest.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” (C.S. Lewis)

We were reminded of the covenant of marriage, how to communicate, and how to handle offenses. We can speak God’s truth into someone’s life or announce all their shortcomings to them. We can see them as the enemy or see them as created in God’s image.

As C.S. Lewis tells us, “To love is to be vulnerable.”

Colossians 3:13: “Make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”

After I wrote my haiku this morning, I asked an AI platform to interpret it. What would a computer say about the poem that I wrote?

Love reveals our deepest vulnerabilities. We know, as C.S. Lewis wrote, its complexities. Wherever you find yourself in your most cherished relationships, may God infuse your love with reconciliation and hope. Each dawn offers a fresh anchor to His unwavering grace.