What I'm Drinking:

Back again at my favorite coffee shop and with my good old regular, the vanilla latte.  Isn't she gorgeous?  Normally the latte art is a simpler leaf or heart, but today's barista went all out with a more intricate, swan like design.  Yesterday was rainy and, due to those darn winter temperatures, a little icy and slick.  There is something about sitting around in comfortable armchairs, surrounded by good music and good company and simply enjoying the day- safe from the rain and icy patches that my natural clumsiness does not function well with.

However, what was better than this stellar drink and warm escape from the winter weather was the great date that and wonderful conversation went along with it - as hinted by that subtle second glass in the picture this week.  So, although Thanksgiving is done, I'm very thankful for not only the {multiple cups of} coffee of this weekend, but also who I spent it with - it was a perfect blend {no coffee pun intended}.

"You'll need coffee shops and sunsets and road trips.  Airplanes and passports and new songs and old songs.  But people more than anything else.  You will need other people.  And you will need to be other person for someone else.  A living, breathing, screaming invitation to believe better things." 

What I'm Thinking: 

Welcome to a new year in the Church liturgy! With the celebration of Christ the King last week, we ushered in a new season of the Catholic Church - and what a beautiful way to start...Advent.  It just seems as if this year has flown by and it wasn't too long ago that snow was on the ground.  Here we are back again though and the readings from this weekend's Mass have beautiful things to teach.

"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness, and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.  For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of earth.  Be vigilant at all times." (Luke 21) 

Advent calls us to an adventure away from the anxieties of the world.  Especially in the holiday season, it can be incredibly easy to get swept away in the current of busy-ness.  Presents to buy, wrap and give.  Meals to shop for, prepare, and eat.  Traditions to arrange, anticipate and enjoy.  Don't let the anxieties of daily life keep you from Christ this Advent.

Use these next four weeks to strengthen you heart for the coming of a baby in a manger.  A simple, quiet arrival of a the beautiful love story of God made man.

So unpack your tree, take some time to draw close to Christ through the sacraments and adoration, drink an latte and Be Not Afraid 

1) The sky is blue.  2 +2 = 4.  Monday comes after Sunday.

2) The sky is green.  2+2 = 7.  Monday comes after Thursday.

Both of the above lines are statements.  One of them is correct. One of them is incorrect.  It's as simple as that.

What if I read the second set of statements and responded, "But, for me, 2+2=7.  It's what I feel is correct.  Based on my levels of knowledge and cultural surroundings, that's true for me."  You'd question my sanity, and rightly so.

I cannot say that 2+2=7 and be right as the person who says 2+2=4 is right.  One of us is wrong.  And that one person being wrong scares us in a society filled with relativism. 

Moral relativism says, "You have your truth and I'll have mine.  What's good and true for you may not be good and true for me.  Ultimately, we're more spiritual than religious."

Call me crazy, but I believe that truth is objective, there is right and wrong in the world, and, as much as it stings, not everyone can be right.

We live in a society where people are afraid to have disagreements.  Maybe the concept of political correctness has harnessed our thoughts, but it seems that no one desires to have a good, intellectual argument anymore.  Moral relativism has made it so that no one is wrong...and this conversation is highly relevant to discussions about religion.

But who am I to judge?  After Pope Francis said this, the world exploded concerning judgement of each other, and sunk into a world view where we can't have opinions concerning people's action anymore.  Let's look at the judgmental issue from another perspective.  I can't claim this, it came from a good friend of mine.  Let's say I don't know your grandma, I've never met her and probably won't.  But I want to know about her, so I ask you to tell me all about her.  And the things you say are awesome - she cooks for everyone when the holidays roll around, she calls you to ask you how you're doing with school, and every time you come back home, she makes sure you have enough groceries.

So, based on what you said about your grandma, I'd say that she is a really good person.  In fact, I'll take the information you gave me, and based on her actions, I will even say that she's fantastic.  But wait - I just judged the heck out of your grandmother.  Why aren't you telling me to stop judging her?

All I did was objectively look at her actions and agreed with them.  The difference of the judgement that Pope Francis implied was the judgement of a person versus the judgement of their actions.  I can't judge where a person's soul is going.  It's above my pay grade (thank goodness - I wouldn't trust myself with that job).  However, I can judge a person's actions and based on an absolute truth, I can disagree or agree with them.

“Relativism poses as humble by saying: “We are not smart enough to know what the truth is—or if there is any universal truth.” It sounds humble. But look carefully at what is happening. It’s like a servant saying: I am not smart enough to know which person here is my master—or if I even have a master. The result is that I don’t have a master and I can be my own master. That is in reality what happens to relativists: In claiming to be too lowly to know the truth, they exalt themselves as supreme arbiter of what they can think and do. This is not humility. This is the essence of pride.” 

- John Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God

Relativism does not make us, as a societal whole, more accepting.  It actually makes us more passive.  It makes us argument-avoidant and boring.  Yet it is considered trendy to be more in tune to relativism.  And to have a set of moral codes and truths that are correct on an objective stance is just intolerant and unappreciative of the culture.  Yes, our minds are meant to be open....but they are meant to close on the truth.

The Truth. Not your truth or my truth, but the truth.  

“The modern habit of saying "This is my opinion, but I may be wrong" is entirely irrational. If I say that it may be wrong, I say that is not my opinion. The modern habit of saying "Every man has a different philosophy; this is my philosophy and it suits me" – the habit of saying this is mere weak-mindedness. A cosmic philosophy is not constructed to fit a man; a cosmic philosophy is constructed to fit a cosmos. A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun and moon.”
- G. K. Chesterton 

We have to stop being lazy - and prideful - and start digging deeper into the morality of situations.  

"We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires."

- Pope Benedict XVI 

We can't decide what is right for ourselves.  I wish the world we lived in was perfect and everyone did the just thing.  However, I still lock my car doors when I go into the store.  And I carry a self-defense weapon when I leave my campus in the dark.  I can't trust that everyone's personal moral code lines up with mine.  As it turns out, the golden rule isn't quite as universally practiced as we had hoped.  So, darn it Adam and Eve, sin makes that impossible. 

If your God lets you do anything, act any way or say anything you want, your God is you.  And although I am aware that I am a child of God and made in His image, I also am well aware that I will never be God.  So I'll leave things like creating the world, loving everyone unconditionally and determining right and wrong up to him.  Like I said....it's above my pay grade.  

The station that I listen to at work has thankfully not switched over to Christmas music yet, so that leaves us bank tellers dancing to pop music in our down time.  Normally, I'm more of a Folk Music - think Mumford and Sons - or Pop Rock - Ed Sheeran, Ben Rector - kind of gal.  So I'm getting to hear songs that normally don't even touch my playlist.  Last week, the big song that played over and over (and over and over and over) was Selena Gomez's new tune Same Old Love.  The refrain is especially haunting.  

I'm so sick of that same old love, that ****, it tears me up

I'm so sick of that same old love, my body's had enough.
Oh, that same old love.  Oh, that same old love.

I'm so sick of that same old love, feels like I've blown apart
I'm so sick of that same old love, the kind that breaks your heart.

Oh, that same old love.  Oh, that same old love. 

What if someone told Selena that life, and love, didn't have to hurt so much?  That there was more to life than just that same old love, and that she in fact deserved and was created for more? And that love, if performed in the manner it was created for, could actually be a beautiful NEW love that reflected the unconditional love of a heavenly Father?

"Purity?" They ask.  And they smile.  They are the ones who go onto marriage with worn-out bodies and disillusioned souls." - Saint Josemaria Escriva 

Love isn't meant to tear you up, or break your soul, heart and body.  That's not what love was created for.  In fact, God is the author of love and the creator of your soul in His image, so love is supposed to point back to him.  What? God? Love? Yes - He does have a lot to do with relationships and interactions with other human beings...despite the culture that constantly tells us to keep God out of our relationships and out of our bedrooms.

"God who created man out of love also calls him to love the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love. Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. It is good, very good, in the Creator's eyes."
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1604

We are all called to a vocation of love - despite what "Big V Vocation" we are called to.  That is the one concept that I find the most beautiful in everything surrounding vocational discernment.  No matter what vocation you are called to, you are called to love.  Saint Therese of Lisieux once exclaimed, "My vocation is love!" And typical Saint Therese, she's right.  If you're called to marriage, you get to reflect the love of Christ between you and your spouse.  If you're called to the vocation of religious life, you reflect the love of Christ between you and Him directly.  If you're called to a life of consecrated singleness, you get to reflect love between Christ and others.  We're all called to love..but not the heart-breaking love that Selena pours her heart over.  

Saint Pope John Paul II wrote, "Only a chaste man and a chaste woman are capable of true love."  How true - chastity is not something that hinders us from loving freely, but  actually opens the doors for true love to take over.  It's a matter of perception.  Chastity can be viewed as rules that bind us or opportunities to grow closer to Christ and to others.

So if you identify with Selena and are sick of that same old love, try Christ's new love on for a change.  You won't be disappointed.

Holidays as a Couple

Well, it’s that most wonderful time of the year.  (Stop right there before you pull out your Christmas stockings and holly and go read my last post).  But it’s true - Thanksgiving will be here in just a short nine days, and after that, blink twice and you’ll be cleaning up the wrapping paper from your living room. 

Yet for some, the holiday season can become more stressful than necessary due to the s word.  No, not snow.  Sharing.

Sharing the holiday as a couple can be challenging and a new experience depending on how long you and your significant other have been together.  Going through this experience for the first time myself has not been nearly as worrying as I anticipated and it’s for a couple of reasons that I’d like to share with you.

Communication

The way you spend your holidays together starts long before the holiday arrives on the calendar.  Have a conversation with each other about when and if you want to spend the holidays together.  If you're just brand new to dating, it may be spent differently than if you've been dating each other for a while.  You may both have family traditions that happen at the exact same time.  So to avoid the chaos and stress that comes from the holiday season, start talking and opening up to each other about what you would love your holidays to look like together. 
 

Don’t Overload

It's easy once you've talked about sharing the holidays to automatically want to share all of the holiday experiences that you treasure with your significant other.  But if you say yes to doing everything with each friend group, work group, family group, and each other, then you're going to find yourself with a schedule so packed that you're going to have to pencil in time to sit down and catch a breath.  While it's true that the holidays are supposed to be about family and friends and a shared experience, it's also ok to know what level of interaction you're comfortable with.  Also take into account each other's personalities.  If you're favorite tradition is a loud family gathering with all of your twenty-seven cousins (thirty-three if you count the once-removed ones) and your significant other is an introvert, than it is critical that you don't overload him or her with the experience.  Which brings us to the next tip...

Speak each other’s language 

I don't know if you've read Dr. Gary Chapman's 5 Love Languages, and if you haven't, grab a copy and make that your holiday reading goal.  In his book, Dr. Chapman reveals the five love languages that everyone speaks.  Sometimes the problems with couples arise when you simply don't speak each other's love language.  Don't let your excitement over the holidays get lost in translation when relating to your significant other this season - especially if your boyfriend or girlfriend's love language is different than that of your own.  So, once again, keep lines of communications open with each other and make sure each other's love tank is full going into the holidays.  It's stressful enough to be in new situations and interacting with new traditions - but you don't have to feel out of of place during them if each of you is aware of the other's needs as part of a couple.

Don't idolize each other

Just like it is easy to idolize the notion of Christmas and the traditions or rituals that go along with them, it's also easy to idolize and idealize the person you spend the holidays with.  Although it is incredibly important to appreciate each other and your talents and shared experiences, it is equally if not more important to remember the reason why you are celebrating - which is Christ's presence in a broken world.  

Turn your joy outward 

C.S. Lewis, you've got to love him.  He has this beautiful quote about love and says, "Lovers are always talking to one another about their love; Friends hardly ever about their Friendship. Lovers are normally face to face, absorbed in each other; Friends, side by side, absorbed in some common interest."

It is easy to make the holiday about yourself and your boyfriend or girlfriend.  Even when you include family in the celebrations, it's easy to fall into the trap of self-absorption. The way to remedy this is to turn your joy for Thanksgiving and Christmas outward.  Maybe that means volunteer work together while you're free during the week.  Or maybe it's taking each other's little siblings outside after dinner and enjoying quality time with them.  It could be pulling away from conversations about yourself and being interested in the lives of those around you.  In whatever way you choose, make sure this holiday season is not about you....it's about how you are Christ to others.

So holidays as a couple are not something to stress over - they are something to enjoy.  After all, the greatest holiday experience is to spend the season with those you love.

So start talking, pull out your planner, take a deep breath, pour yourself some eggnog and Be Not Afraid. 

Before You Light Your Christmas Tree

Call me Scrooge and shout "Bah Humbug" as I pass by, but I'm not ready for the Christmas season.  I cringe as I grocery shop around inflatable snowmen and posters of Santa's arrival at the mall make me want to avoid the area.  When commercials for Christmas came onto my social media feed before Halloween had even occurred, I really started to think about why the concept of such an early preparation for a celebration didn't sit well with me.

It's not that I don't enjoy the Christmas season, don't get me wrong.  It's actually my favorite season of the entire year.  My family has some amazing traditions (granted, I'm highly biased) and nothing makes it 'feel like Christmas' than bundling up in pajamas, stuffing all ten of us in a car and going around looking at Christmas lights while eating ice cream.  Or putting up the Christmas tree on the Eve of Christmas Eve and lighting a fire while reminiscing about Christmas past.  And my favorite part of the day is when I am sitting with my family late on Christmas night and opening gifts made by the hands of little siblings.

Yet the beauty and significance of the holiday has lost its meaning in a world mesmerized with the money to be made in a season - instead of discerning the reason that there are gifts under a tree on the morning of December 25th.

I celebrate a liturgical feast where I am enamored with a woman, full of grace, who said yes to a plan of radical love despite social expectations and reactions.  I love the presence of a man who said yes to the responsibility of being an earthly father figure to Our Lord and the protection of a Holy Family.  I am head over heels for the lowliest of the low of society, shepherds, being the first to hear a call of "Be Not Afraid" and then be transformed into missionaries who spread the word about a God became Man.  I love a weary world rejoicing in the love of their long-awaited Savior.

Because even if there were no trees, no festivities, no lights on Main street, the beauty of the Christmas season is not found in things...it's found in relationships.  In the wise words of my favorite saint, "People are meant to be loved and things are meant to be used.  The confusion in this world occurs when things are loved and people are used"  (JPII)  So my love for Christmas time is not wrapped in paper.  It is found in the beauty of family gathered around a dinner table.  It is found in a Mass at midnight, lit by candles and the joy of a family who has been spread out over the country finally getting a chance to come together.

There doesn't need to be snow on the ground or lights on my porch banisters for Christmas to occur.    Christ came in the form of a baby, and then lived on the earth and gave us His body and blood regardless of our appreciation or celebration.  His quiet sacrificial love is something that should be emulated in each and every day of our life, not just for thirty days in the winter months.

So when November 26th draws to a close and the rush ensues to trim a tree and hang the stockings, you won't find me there.  While Christmas carols will gladly be filling my house and thoughts of how to best surprise people and show them how much I care about them will occupy my thoughts, the person who will be at the forefront of my mind is not a man in a red suit, but a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes.  The rest of the world will call me crazy, but I'm looking forward to celebrating the birth of a God who died to get to know me, and I don't need an eggnog latte to make that official.

My Love Affair with Saint Therese

I love the saints.  There really isn't anyway to sugarcoat it.  They're as close to me as my friends here on earth and I talk to them on a very regular basis. In fact, Saint Maria Goretti and I had a great chat in my car on the way to work today.  

It's hard to pick favorites, but I have to say that my list of top saints would include Edith Stein, Pope John Paul II and Pierre Giorgio Frassetti.  Then toss in Maria Goretti, Cecilia and Theresa of Avila and you have yourself a pretty good saint mix if I do say so myself. 

                

All of my favorite saints just crash onto the scene of Catholicism and give me this amazing example of an in-your-face Catholicism that just exploded and invaded their entire life.  I was inspired by Pope John Paul II's rugged outdoors life and insane people skills.  I was emboldened by Edith Stein's writings on women.  I wanted to learn to ski just to be closer to Pierre Giorgio.  I wanted to change the course of history and people's lives like Maximilian Kolbe.  I wanted to be a great saint - and I was surrounding myself with these amazing role models.

But when I chatted with people about their favorite saint, one beautiful lady kept popping up in conversation and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.  Now we get to the honesty hour.  Where I admit that, for the longest time, I couldn't stand Saint Therese of Liseux. Whoa, that's sounds harsh. 

Maybe it was her neatness.  Her gentle smile that seemed to find me in every chapel that I went to, a stray holy card there, a statue here, this constant presence of roses.  She was the epitome of humility, and I was over here, struggling with my biggest vice of pride.  She was tidy and calm and I was internally wrestling and externally the definition of chaos.  She was easy to read and liked to give signs.  I was all over the board and was trying to get out of my comfort zone.  She didn't appeal to me.  She wasn't relate-able.

But gradually, as more and more of my friends sang the praises of Christ working through Therese in their life, I realized that I needed to give her another chance - or rather, stop shutting off my heart to what Christ was trying to tell me through her.

Then I realized why I didn't get along so well with Saint Therese - she challenged me too much.

Here I am, looking at these lofty goals, these high aspirations.  My college career, my possible path towards grad school, my big 'V' vocation, my life.  See where the emphasis is placed? 'My.'  As if this life is mine to live.  All the while, Saint Therese is over there smiling, shaking her head more than likely and saying things like "I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifices to all ecstasies.  To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul." 

                                            

I did N-O-T want to heart that at all.  I would rather hear things like "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire."  YES! Bring it on Saint Catherine of Sienna! Action! Power! Whoo!  None of this pin-picking up business.  

But Therese kept hitting me with these amazing little quotes that dug at me day in and day out.  She made me reconsider my mission field.

I was looking at things with a very broad scope vantage point lens.  Let me take on the world.  My campus.  My career field.  But Therese was sitting beside me, nudging my finger on the zoom button of that camera, constantly pulling my vision closer and closer to the individuals who were closets to me.  My best friends, family, classmates, professors.  She kept saying that they were my mission - my mission in my backyard...and I didn't want to have a thing to do with that.

That was personal.  That was messy.  That was sticky.  There wasn't any glory (I thought).  It felt like settling to me.

She kept proving me wrong - if only proven by her patronage.  Saint Therese the Little Flower, who went into a cloistered convent is the patron saint of missionaries.

                                       

What? But it was true - this little saint who pushed herself along her little way was rippling out and effecting many more than just those in her four convent walls.  And I was being challenged to do the same.

Am I saying that God isn't asking big things from you? No.  But I am saying that maybe the stage where you're called to start that role in His plan is looks a lot like the dinner table at your house.  Or that 2:00am conversation with a roommate who needs to know that she's loved.  Or a little brother who needs challenged in his faith life.  Maybe it's not big...maybe it's doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.  

I'll let Saint Therese of the Little Flower end as she does best, short and sweet: "Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, or even at their difficulty, as at the love with which we do them."

So embrace the little things, take on the courageous cross of great love, keep striving and Be Not Afraid.

              

With a Little Help from my Friends: The Need for Authentic Friendship

The culture that we live in defines friendship in very technological terms - especially my generation.  Popularity is based on likes on a Facebook post, instagram picture, or retweets.  Is friendship more than the number on the side of your Facebook profile?  I say yes - but it's a little more sticky than that.

Sometimes the only advice I was given in the formation of my friendship was "Well, to get a good friend, you have to be a good friend."  Which, granted, in middle school was what I needed to hear.  But now, especially with college winding down to a close, what I want to define is what it means to be a "good" friend.  What separates my acquaintances from my friends? My friends from my best friends?  My best friends from my soul mate friends?

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:24-25)

There are so many factors that go into the friendships in your life - everything from work friendships to knowing which person will be at the end of the line when you need to chat after a life event.  What factors should go into that sorting process?  Here are my suggestions:

Your Best Mutual Friend

"No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15)

Not all of my friends are Catholic, and not all of my friends are Christian - and that's not a bad thing! I learn a lot simply from the different vantage points presented by each one of my friends.  However, my close, core group of friends are cemented in the commonality of our faith.  The mutuality that sparked each one of my best friendships can be directly pointed to our interaction with each through Christ.

They are the girls that make me a better version of myself - who are constantly pushing me to grow in my relationship with myself, others and Christ - who is our biggest mutual friend.

Your Conversations

"A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." (Luke 6:45).

There is nothing I love more than a good heart-to-heart with a close friend.  A level of vulnerability, the ability to admit questions or struggles or even the simplicity of a meaningful and grounded conversation have the ability to strengthen a relationship.  Subjects that are rough to discuss with others are normal fuel for conversation with my close, core friends.  Believe me, I can't even keep track of how many NFP, Theology of the Body and baby conversations I've had with my core friends.  It's in the hundreds.  Those are the conversations that I walk away from feeling stronger in my friendships.

This is not to discount fun, meaningless conversations over the superiority of pancakes in comparison to waffles. (Pancakes - all the way.  Especially if you cook them mixed with coffee.  Or Dr. Pepper). Or the excitement shared over little things like the newest movie to hit the theater or an adorable YouTube video.  But don't be afraid to dig deeper in your conversations with your core friends and show what is on your heart.



Your Accountability

"Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each on looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.  Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:1-5)

There are sometimes when I talk to my core friends that their answer is something along the lines of "you need to be easier on yourself.'  However, there are also times when the line used is "You're being too easy on yourself."  It's an equal balance, but it's also the ability of an outside source to look at a situation and offer an objective opinion on how to handle it.

It is always easier for me to go to the gym when my little sister knows about my goals.  "Oh, Chloe, it's Tuesday and you said you were going to go to the gym on Tuesday mornings" is what I need to hear in order to drag myself out of bed and onto the treadmill.  But without her knowledge of my goals, she couldn't push me.  Don't be afraid to let your core group of friends in on your goals.  They won't know what you're striving for unless you tell them.  And you may be surprised - a lot of your friends may be striving for the same goal.

Your Lack of Masks
"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."  (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

A core friend does not come help you hold up your mask because the weight is to heavy for you to bear alone.  Instead, a true core friend comes and helps you put the mask on the ground and walk away from it.  There is no need to be 'perfect' and true friend will push you (accountability!) to not put the mask back on when suffering arises again in your life.

Friends are people who have seen you at your absolute worst and your absolute best and will still love you not for the sum of your weakness but because of the Father's love for you as His child.

Your Sacrifice

"Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the Church." (Colossians 1:24)

There is something incredibly beautiful about suffering.  The Catholic viewpoint on suffering is radical in and of itself - we believe that suffering grants us an opportunity to unite with Christ on the cross and lessen the burden for others.  There is a beauty that is brought about from the ashes and a sense of peace in the middle of a storm.  Suffering binds us to the cross - but that doesn't mean that we have to carry the cross on our own.

Not all of us suffer well - believe me, I'm included in that group.  Some deny the suffering they are experiencing, some mask it with 'joy' whenever they are around others, yet carry a burden in silence and solitude.  Others snap under the burden and lash out in the anger pent up inside.  Yet a friend who not only suffers with grace but pushes you towards that same mentality is priceless.  A friend who suffers alongside you makes all the difference in the world.

And that, my friends, is all I have.  So, find your core group that pushes you to be the best version of yourself (#MatthewKelly) and let's get each other to Heaven.  Keep striving, keep building your friendship circles and be not afraid.

In Christ,

Chloe M.