Howdy, and welcome to Beyond the Pew! My name is Taylor Schroll and it’s great to be back again with you here this week. I’m kicking off our series in February on relationships, we know that Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and it’s all about love. But before we get into that, I want to talk about friendships.
At Ablaze, we work with a lot of junior high and high school youth and we know that friendships are both very important and very, very difficult at this age. A lot of kids are just plain mean to each other. What I want to do today is give you some ways to help guide your kids to good, Catholic, holy friendships.
When I was growing up, I wanted to be a professional athlete. That’s all I wanted to be. I worked really hard on it and I didn’t end up making it, but it wasn’t from a lack of trying! We know if you want to be a professional or a “pro” at anything, you have to work hard at it and be dedicated to it. So we’re going to be talking about “pro” friendships today, using that acronym of PRO.
- Pick Wisely
Bad company corrupts good morals, we hear that in Proverbs and one of my virtual mentors, Zig Ziglar, said, “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” So if we’re hanging around with great kids, we’ll probably turn out alright, but I know from experience that hanging out with people who aren’t the good Catholic role models or people of good morals, we can start to slip up and I’m sure you’ve seen that in your life and probably in your kids as well. - Be Real
A lot of kids in our social media age, in junior high and high school, they’re trying to figure themselves out. It’s hard to show their real selves. I know when I was in junior high it was hard for me to show my real self so I acted like everybody else. Being real is very important. And one of the things in the Christian life that I mean by this, is that a lot of the time in friendships we can be more forgiving of one another. We recognize that we’re all imperfect and we all mess up. We’re real and human. So being able to forgive each other and to move on is so important. - Open to Growth
We all know that friendships take time and energy. You probably know this from experience and we need to help our children understand this and guide them through it. Friendships take time, energy, and forgiveness. It’s right in the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. We all need to grow in this.
And finally, I want to leave you with this quote from Proverbs.
A friend is a friend at all times
and
A brother is born in times of adversity.
These real, true friendships that are open to growth are your friends through thick and thin. So no matter what is going on you are still able to grow in your friendships. Pick wisely, be real, and be open for growth! I hope this was helpful for you to take to your children and we will see you next week on Beyond the Pew.