[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”39769″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In 2020, holiday magic may feel like an especially tall order. Magic is a tricky word. Even in a “normal” year, the marketing of holiday magic can seem trite, fake, or flimsy.
It helps to remember that in the most basic sense, magic describes one thing changing into another. Not just any sort of change, of course. Magic implies a change that is inexplicable, unpredictable, and awe-inspiring. The sort of change people long for when they feel stuck or helpless. The change people crave when they cannot see their way to a better world.
Living in this time when we feel stuck and it’s hard to imagine a better future, we don’t need the trite, false sort of holiday magic. We need magic that transforms the 5 pm darkness into a signal not of life’s end but its beginning. We need magic that stirs within us a sense of possibility, preparation, and transformation.
We need magic that transforms division into community, fear into trust, greed into generosity, injustice into liberation, and chaos into peace. We need magic that reminds us we are never alone and love abounds even when darkness limits what we can see in the moment.
I know it’s a a lot for just a few weeks. This is why the task this season is not to get this magic all at once. It is simply to find our way to small moments of magic. To tune into moments of wonder, love, connection, ease, laughter, and joy sprinkled throughout our days.
I’ve developed a fun, short online quiz to help you proactively identify and engage in practices that will awaken magic. The purpose of this quiz is to offer a path to remembering that life-sustaining magic is still possible, even in 2020.
With love,
Rev. Gretchen[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”Take the Quiz: What’s Your Path to Holiday Magic” color=”turquoise” size=”lg” align=”center” button_block=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fquiz.tryinteract.com%2F%23%2F5fd11463fc4760001688f857||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.
Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.
Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.