Stressed-out high schoolers, hyperactive junior highers, angry parents, a temperamental church van and leadership that wants to “have a talk.” For many ministries, it’s easy to get down in the dumps and, at times, doubt your calling.

Your calendar is likely crammed full of both personal and professional activities, your bank account is buckling under the weight of it all, and even though October was Pastor’s Appreciation Month, apparently that only counts if you’re a “real pastor,” because no one seemed to notice.

I don’t know how you’re feeling at the beginning of this holiday season, youth pastor, but can I just encourage you for a second? If you find yourself faking a smile and grasping for something to give thanks for, may I make a few suggestions?

• Give thanks that you belong to Jesus (Romans 1:6). He’s yours. Your His. No one, no thing, no circumstance can change that. Rest in that today.
• Give thanks that you have been called to vocational ministry. Maybe you’ll make a career of it, or maybe it’ll just be for a season, but you get to do ministry for a living. Will you get rich doing it? Not monetarily, but you are rich in good deeds (1 Timothy 6:18), and that’s something.
• Give thanks that you have a front row seat for life change. There are names that come to my mind if I slow down enough to think about it — Jayden and Jeff and Riley and Dylan, just to name a few. Who have you seen moved by Jesus? Chances are there is something to celebrate and give thanks for.
• Give thanks that you’ve not arrived yet. God is still working on you. If you have peaked, if your contribution to the Kingdom were over, you’d have reason to be blue. But you haven’t? How do I know? You’re still sucking air. That means God’s not done. So give thanks for that.
• Give thanks for the people alongside you. None of us truly do this alone, even if we feel like we do. We have mentors and spouses and colleagues and Facebook groups and this blog, if nothing else. Thank God for your Epaphras and your Tychicus and your Silas and your Timothy. There’s a Lydia and Junia out there somewhere helping prop you up. It’s okay to feel lonely sometimes so long as you realize that you are not alone. Thank God for those folks who stand with you and, while you’re at it, thank them, too.
• Give thanks for bacon. I don’t know…I just really like bacon.
• Give thanks for time to give thanks. I used to serve in a church that had a Thanksgiving Eve service and some places are very active over the holidays, but hopefully you have time to pause and count your blessings. I’d encourage you to schedule it in. Some folks do shift work and won’t enjoy a Thanksgiving break. Take one, and thank God you can take one.

What we do is not easy, but nothing worth doing is. What we do is not a calling where we are flooded with gratitude from others. Sometimes we’re ignored. Other times we’re attacked. But give thanks, youth pastor. You are doing a good work, a lasting work.

And know that in his office somewhere in Katy, Texas, a fellow student pastor is giving thanks for you.