About

Welcome to Jars of Water, a personal blog by Susan Maxwell Roach. Blogs entries are often inspired by political, religious, or philosophical ideas. On rare occasions, I publish a poem or short story, adding it to the margin so new readers can find it. Thank you for stopping by.

Where did the name of the blog come from?

As the subtitle says, this blog is discrete reflections on reality as I perceive it, not just one theme. As the title photo shows, not just one size blog entry either.

The original concept came from a favorite passage in the Bible, John Chapter 2, where Jesus turns jars of water into wine — his first miracle, at the wedding in Canaan. I figured my blog entries would be like those jars of water — just everyday things, with a purpose, but with some help from the Spirit, perhaps a few of them would become so much more.

Where do you get your perspective?

I find Truth in:

• The Quaker doctrine that “there is that of God in everyone”.
• The parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant.
• The Christian core belief, that God loves us.

and I delight in looking at the world through those lenses.

But what about me?

I’m a “cradle Episcopalian”, born in South Carolina, now living in Santa Cruz County, California, hence the Susan from SC moniker.

I’m a program manager, whether I get paid to be or not. I use communication, influence, and informational elbow grease to help teams of people achieve goals.

I love film, particularly animation (anything by Hayao Miyazaki or VeggieTales or Pixar or Disney), complex ideas wrapped in good soundtracks (think Blade Runner, All That Jazz, High School Musical, West Side Story), and good ol’ action romances (Pirates of the Caribbean, True Lies, The Mask of Zorro, etc.).

I was inspired by my maternal grandfather in ways that I am still discovering.

My hobbies these days include kayaking, and quilting. And, still, blogging.