Love. Kindness. Compassion. Acceptance. These should be foundational attributes in every youth leader. We walk into parish halls, meeting rooms, and youth rooms with an immense responsibility to find love in all of the young people we minister to and empower them to continue to find love in others.

We all have days where nothing has gone our way. Sadly, we don’t always receive the thank you that we need, the pep talk that we need to hear, or the affirmation and support we need in ministry to keep moving forward. So, here’s my thank you to all of you fantastic leaders:

Growing up I loved holidays and all of the traditions my family had. But, all of a sudden, my once joyful and happy holiday experience was different, very different and sad. It was only through my relationship with Jesus, prayer, and good friends that helped me navigate the least wonderful time of the year.

Friendship is a topic we talk about all the time, but how exactly do we recognize when a friendship is going sour or even the joys and challenges in friendship? How do we identify when friends are not good friends?

As a high school student, to say my schedule was packed would have been an understatement. My time at school was spent either in class, at club meetings, or at sports practice. Outside of school, I had youth group and volunteer work on top of my social life with my