Good morning.
As I’ve been thinking around the
whole subject of leaving a legacy to those who are coming behind us in life, my
attention was drawn to a new book on mentoring. (Intentional Mentoring by Paul Wilcox, published by Instant Apostle) Mentoring is sharing knowledge,
skills and life experience to guide another towards reaching their full
potential; it’s a journey of shared discovery. It’s the ability and the desire
to develop others so that they can excel, even to the point of doing better
than we did in our turn. And it doesn’t happen by accident. Mentoring really
does need to be intentional on our part.
Many years ago, my wife left school
after her A levels and began work in a laboratory. There she found herself
working alongside a very experienced and much older colleague. It soon became
clear that this person was not interested in explaining to the newcomer what
the various machines and gadgets in the lab actually did. It seemed that she
felt that the knowledge she had gained over the years was her only protection
against whatever threat the young upstart represented.
In contrast to this kind of
attitude, Jesus of Nazareth did the exact opposite. He took a group of a dozen
or so young guys and mentored them. First, he showed them what to do, then he
worked with them while they tried to do it, and then he stood back and sent
them out to do it themselves, regularly gathering them for encouragement and
guidance. Mentoring with a kind heart
can be one of the best kinds of legacy we can pass on to the next generation.
Think about who you might mentor today, or perhaps who might mentor you.
Have a great day.
