Good as Dead

by Susan Walter

I remembered my Sunday school teacher talking about how so many things in life are both a blessing and a curse—how mountains do not rise without earthquakes, how the tragedy of the original sin gave us the blessing of free choice. Even the crucifixion of Christ himself was both—he was murdered! But his death allowed him to rise and live forever as our savior.

Writing is listening. It’s spiritual, in the sense that what I write is not of me, but rather flows through me. Flipping on my computer and greeting the blank page is an act of surrender—like saying a prayer—then humbly trusting in God’s sacred gift.

You can’t create emotional content without experiencing emotions.

Original stories are a tangle of what is divinely offered to you, and everything you’ve learned, felt, observed, experienced. Put more simply, you need to breathe in to breathe out. Living is breathing in. Putting words on the page is breathing out.

A man will go to extreme lengths to protect himself from pain. He will lie, cheat, steal, or even resort to violence in order to save himself. It’s how, as human beings, we are wired. It’s in our DNA. Until we have children. Then our focus shifts from protecting ourselves to protecting them.

It’s not that she didn’t believe in love, she told us. It’s just “foolish” to fall in love with a man who can’t take care of you. Because, as she put it, If you don’t love your lifestyle, inevitably you will fall out of love with your man.

Mama might be on to something 🤔

My dad always said love dies in dishonesty. If you can’t share your true self with someone, he once told me, you’re wasting your time.