I haven’t posted anything but book reviews here in forever. I know, I know. I get busy and other projects are marked Urgent, so blogging gets pushed down the list. I’m trying to be better.
I’m tidying up my office and one of my projects is taking a stack of old (some are really, really old) hardcopies of articles and devotionals I wrote in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and typing them into my computer.
This one only needed a bit of tweaking to make it current and I think it’s still valid.
Mentoring was a buzzword when I was homeschooling, in the last century. In business, education and social science circles, mentoring was extolled as the best way to produce intelligent and upright leaders of the next generation. The Bible speaks of mentoring also, although it’s called by another name.
Disciplining, discipling, or training are Biblical words that mean the same as mentoring.
The dictionary says a mentor is a wise and trusted teacher, guide and friend; an elderly monitor or adviser.
Isn’t that exactly what Paul tells us in Titus to do for our young women and daughters?
A mentor relationship is exactly what a mom has with her children. We’re teaching them that a mother is someone who places a great importance on raising children who will make a difference in this world for Christ. We teach them practical things also, such as running a household.
If my children had left home without knowing how to do their laundry and have it come out the same color it went in, I failed at my mentoring. If my children place greater importance on things than on people, I have failed. If my children don’t know how to prepare a meal or how to vacuum or how to shop, I have failed. If my children believe someone’s contribution to society can be measured in dollars and cents, I have failed.
Mentoring doesn’t need to be an organized program we sign up for to train and encourage young people. No matter if you’re a parent or not, you are a mentor to the young people in your life. You are a wise and trusted teacher, guide, and friend.
Writer of Sweet Small Town Stories of Love and Family 