 IntegrityYour Body: The LiverTrue MinistryDon’t Neglect Your GiftSearching for Your Self-Worth |
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From the EditorFellowship of ServiceWho, Me? Serve?MentoringThe Role of Christian Women in Paul’s DayElizabeth: A Woman of FaithShopping for Modesty in Egypt |
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Mentoring
By Patricia Chamberlain
What does the word “Mentoring” mean? And how does one be a successful Mentor? Webster says, “A Mentor is a wise adviser, a trusted teacher and counselor.” This description tells us that not just anyone will be capable of fulfilling the duties of a mentor.
Usually, wisdom rides on the head of an older person. Trusting in someone comes with communication over a long period of time. When you find someone who has wisdom, who is trustworthy, and also has the ability to teach good things, you will have found much more than a friend for life, you will have found a “Mentor.” Paul’s Instructions The apostle Paul makes clear that before an older woman can teach a younger women, the older woman must have been taught the proper way to live, be living it and have control of her own life. Then that woman qualifies to encourage and show by example how to do what is meaningful and right in the eyes of God. A younger woman in turn, one who has studied and learned the principles of God’s Word, has the ability to mentor a younger sister or friend. Mentoring is not just telling someone what to do. It is showing the way by example and encouraging others to follow. “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God” (Titus 2:3-5). This list emphasizes first what young wives and mothers are to be, and then only secondarily what they are to do. They are to be (1) lovers of their husbands; (2) lovers of their children; (3) self-controlled; (4) pure; (5) busy at home, that is domestic, working at home; (6) kind; and (7) subject to their husbands. Reflections on Mentoring Some questions younger women may have could be as simple as:
My greatest joy has been the opportunities to give encouragement, some advice and consistent example to my daughter and granddaughters. One particular joy this year was to have my oldest granddaughter put her hand to making unleavened bread “as thin as Gran’s!” The mantel of this important Holy Day event, “making unleavened bread,” is passing on to her! | |
Marks of a Real Mentor A mentor should be a best friend. A mentor, preferably, should not be a person your own age, but older and wiser when it comes to life. Real friendships involves face-to-face honesty. |
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Real friendships also involve loyalty. What kind of a mentoring friend would you be, if you had the chance? There is a vast difference between knowing someone well and being a true mentoring friend. The greatest evidence of a genuine mentoring friendship is loyalty, which loves at “all times.” In 1 Corinthians 13:7 one reads the importance of being available to help in times of distress or personal struggles. Too many people are fair-weather friends. They stick around when the friendship helps them and leave when they’re not getting anything out of the relationship. Think of your friends and appraise your loyalty to them. Be the kind of true mentoring friend the Bible encourages. Jesus Christ is our Lord and master, yet he calls us His friends. How comforting and reassuring to be chosen as Christ’s friends. Real mentoring involves a loving relationship. We are to love each other as Jesus loved us. Sometimes being a mentor involves the simple practice of listening, helping, encouraging and giving. Most young women at sometime or another could use the help of an older wiser, loving and mentoring friend. Just one more thing: Mentoring does not mean everything you suggest will be accepted and acted upon. Realize each and every one of us must be free to make our own decisions. Therefore, a mentor will have some success and some failures—this is life! i | |