When I was in college, one of my favorite classes was Creative Writing. During that class, we did a lot of work with the poetry form of Haiku. We changed up the syllables in each line and worked with each other to improve wording and choice of imagery. A lot of people would have been completely bored by this, but I was fascinated. I love to work with words the way some people love to work with numbers (BLECK – thank God for accountants).

While playing with the forms on my own in my dorm room one night, I wrote the following Haiku:

Hell is earth minus water
Man without his love
Heaven exists for no one

I was so proud of this poem. It spoke directly from deep down inside of my heart. In fact, it became somewhat of a mantra for me for a long time. Thanks be to God for a change of heart!

I’m not sure where or when I stopped reciting this poem in my mind. I can’t point to the exact moment when it longer was real for me. All I know is that today it does not speak my truth. That said, it has recently been popping up in my mind from time to time. Maybe because I’ve been binge-watching The Walking Dead, and it seems to go well with the theme of the show. Whatever the reason for its return to memory doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the change of heart that God has orchestrated in me has made me rewrite the last line of this former personal mantra:

Hell is earth minus water
Man without his love
Heaven, the Resurrection

I like that ending better.