Early in my writing career, I was told that creative people are often wounded …
… drawing their ideas from a well of pain. That was certainly true in my case. But I had been blessed with two years of healthy therapy so that my perspective served my clients’ goals. Soon, I was placed in leadership mentoring other writers. To my great dismay, many of my most creative protégés became casualties, and I could not save them no matter how I tried. In each case, these were wounded people, blinded by their own pain, who wouldn’t allow the demands of the marketplace to grow their talent.
I loved these people and did my best to let them know that all their ideas were valuable, even if they were not commercial. I urged them to do as I did and keep each inspiration in a private file. This would become their personal treasure, adding bits and pieces to the story of their lives. From this storehouse, in time, they would be able to draw out wisdom that money could never buy. In essence, I told them, “You’ve got a story and it’s better than you think.”
Now in my seventh decade of life, I’m practicing what I preached. I’ve dipped into my own files to draw out these short essays, Markers & Milestones, 40 waypoints from a pilgrim’s journey. This little volume is a sampler for you to consume like a box of verbal chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get, so I’ve created a table of contents. I’ve titled each entry and grouped them in three categories: Self-discovery, Transformation and Storytelling:
Self-Discovery:
- Atmospheres
- Beyond Good Friday*
- Christmas
- Comfort Zone
- Crisis Demands Change
- Gatekeepers
- God and Mammon*
- Groaning and Glory
- Hypocrisy 101
- More
- Mystery
- The Shadow of Death
- The Tale of Three Beers*
- Thresholds
- Trust Me
Transformation:
- Divorce
- Epitaph
- Loss
- The Secret Place
- The Silence of Jesus*
- Time and Truth
- Unforgettable Fire*
- Whitewater
Storytelling:
- A Horse named I.O.U.*
- Award-Winning Mom*
- Conversation
- Election Night 2016
- Evil Generation
- Journaling?
- Mother’s Day
- Painkiller*
- Poems*
- Rage of Angels*
- Riders on the Storm*
- The Bouquet
- When a Good Story Goes Bad
- When Less is More*
- Word Pictures
- Words and Bones
Stories listed with an asterisk(*) will require five minutes or more of reading time. Your time is valuable. Read. Enjoy. Grow.
Stephen Bransford