I've been participating in an online study called "She Reads Truth" and we've been studying the book of Titus. It's a tiny little addition to Scripture, but it's packed with big truth and big admonitions from Paul to his spiritual son. At the end of the study, we were given the opportunity to write about our thoughts on spiritual mothering/mentoring because Paul is mentoring and instructing his spiritual son, Titus, in how to teach and instruct the church in Crete. So, when I thought about the importance of having spiritual mothers and mentors, I immediately thought of several people who have been monumental influences in my life and helped to shape my walk with the Lord. In fact, they may not even realize the impact that they have had on my life. These lovely women have different personalities and therefore, their words and the way their words were delivered had their own distinct fragrance and feeling. The one thing they all had in common is this: they all had the courage to deliver God's Words and God's truth to me without candy coating it to make it easier for me to accept.
There was relationship between me and the women who mentored and impacted my life--their mentoring flowed out of the relationship that was built between us. It didn't happen overnight. Real and deep relationships never happen quickly, and I believe time and attention and reciprocity is required from each person. Oh, how grateful I am for these Godly women who have influenced so many things in my life. And oh, how I would love to see more of this kind of mentoring in my community of believers.
Mentoring is not just for women, however. Having raised three sons, I pray for Godly men to reach out to my sons and invest in their lives. Not just any person will do--my prayer is for men who actually have my sons' best interest in mind. Men who are interested in relationship with them because God calls them to it, not just to acquire their talents or gifts for their own ministry needs. And I also pray that my sons will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to lead them to young men in which to come alongside and mentor as well. I'm so thankful that my husband is intentional about mentoring our sons. He carves out precious time each week to have coffee with each one of them separately in order to stay in the flow of their lives and to help coach them along when they need advice.http://shereadstruth.com/2014/06/12/shesharestruth-2/ I love that! I do believe that real, authentic, close-up spiritual mentoring is not always easy to come by. Relationships take time to build and time is a commodity that few people have an abundance in which to spend. I have many opinions on why our commodity of time seems to always be lacking and the reasons for each of us will likely be completely different. I will ask this: what things are taking up our valuable time? We obviously have to work. God is pretty adamant in Scripture about us not being slothful and lazy. We are busy serving in our churches and communities. This is also important and God is not silent about this in Scripture either. I guess I believe that we neglect to wear out God-glasses at work and at church and in our communities. Aren't we supposed to work to pay our bills AND to minister to and bless the people we work around every day? Aren't we to serve like crazy in our churches AND to be able to stop long enough to invest in and disciple people in our spheres of influence there? I'm sad that we get tunnel vision so many times and we forget to ask God to order our steps to the people He wants us to influence and disciple and mentor. I really believe He intends for us to make a difference in the lives of the Christians we do life with as well as the people in our communities and neighborhoods. I believe that time spent is such an important factor, yet we don't always obey and spend it in all the right places. And I'm speaking to myself as well. I'm adamant about time spent with my family. My boys may be grown, but I believe in order to be a healthy family, we have to be able to connect with each other at least once a week, if only for a couple of hours over a family meal. We are so blessed to be able to live in the same area as our kids and you better believe I'm going to take advantage of it. Our Sunday afternoons/evenings are the only time we can all do this and it's still a challenge at times with all of the activities going on in their lives. You see, I can't influence my kids if I don't spend time with them. You and I can't influence and mentor any person if we don't take the time to get to know them and build relationship with them. How many times do we stuff activities on our calendars when we all need time each week to just "be". If our lives are too busy to slow down and spend even a couple of hours with the people we love, then we are just too busy. If our lives are too busy that we can't devote a day to have a Sabbath, then we're too busy. If our lives are too busy that we can't carve out time to have coffee with a friend or to make a phone call to a struggling friend, then we're too busy. I believe we have to take inventory of our lives and make some changes, if necessary, in order to preserve our spiritual health and our relational health with one another.
I don't have all the answers. I'm on the same journey as everyone else, trying to figure out how to navigate the changing terrain and landscape of my life. But I desperately want the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to each opportunity He places before me--in my own family, and also in my church family and beyond. I'm called with you to encourage and rebuke with all authority, just as Paul called Titus to do.
Lord, thank you for loving us enough to both encourage us and to rebuke us. Help us to put our God-glasses on and to be sensitive to Your voice and then to be obedient to bless and encourage and invest in the people you point out to us. Amen.
