Reversing our Haikus

In his fascinating and compelling book, The Exquisite Risk, cancer survivor Mark Nepo tells a story about reversing the way we view reality.

He begins a chapter this way.

"In the 1660s , the Japanese [haiku] master, Basho, spoke profoundly to his student Kikaku:

We shouldn't abuse God's creatures.
You must reverse your Haiku, not:

a dragonfly,
remove its wings---
pepper tree.

but

a pepper tree;
add wings to it---
dragonfly.

We need to keep that in mind as we look closely at our own life stories. Many of us who are broken can only see the negative in our circumstances. We can and should explore ways to see the gift in our brokenness. It might be one of those gifts that you open and say, "You shouldn't have." But it's still a gift.