Hello, dear friend.
It’s with a heavy heart, fighting for joy and beauty in a world that’s turned upside down, that I put pen to paper to write to you today.
I’m a storyteller, a wordsmith, but I haven’t yet found words to express what I—and so many others—are experiencing in this season of crisis. But one thing I do see and can say without a shadow of a doubt—your work, our work, is more important than ever.
Now is the time when your story is most needed.
“So, carry on, dear souls! Create magic with your pen or hands or brush! Carry the light bravely onward into these dark days.”
When the walls close around us and the heaviness of fear presses down, to what do we turn? We pick up a book. Play our favorite song. Pull out paint and create art. Thumb the pages of Scripture and find comfort in truths that have weathered many storms. Turn on a movie or TV show and escape, even for a little while, to another world where it all works out in the end.
We turn to stories, to art, to refresh our spirits and give us hope and encouragement in tough times.
If you’re like me, focusing on my creative work has been hard in recent days. It almost seems childish to write about magic and monsters when friends are losing their jobs and businesses and even their homes.
Yet, what could be more important? What else is more effective in this struggle against fear and isolation and despair?
We live still in the messy middle of the story. I’ve always identified most with the middle books in series. With part one in the Harry Potter movies. Because that’s life. When you’re not sure how things will work out yet and the situation is changing and worsening by the minute.
But we do know that this chapter will end, even if we can’t yet see the path ahead.
So, carry on, dear souls! Create magic with your pen or hands or brush! Carry the light bravely onward into these dark days.
Peace be with you as you journey onward.
Katie