On Sunday morning I was in church listening to a fantastic lesson on letting God relieve our anxiety. While the lesson was very edifying and encouraging, I admittedly spent a brief time letting my mind wander. Now, before you report me to God, I want to let you know that I really began to think about the speaker delivering the message.
He's one of my mentors.
I've come to know Roy since he joined our congregation a few years ago. Since then, he and his lovely wife have served as an excellent role models for us. As a matter of fact, he's one of my top five favorite speakers.
Having mentors is incredibly important no matter where you are in life and its important to have different mentors for different aspects of your life.
In my spiritual life, I have older people that I look up to and try to duplicate the things they do well. Some of the go to church with me, some don't. Some I see each Sunday and some I don't see in person for years at a time. But in either case, I have the ability to ask them questions and benefit from their wealth of information and experiences.
In my professional life, I have many different mentors. Some are ex-employers, some are colleagues and some are simply men and women that are successful and their success translates between industries. As a matter of fact, that is one reason why I'm a member of my local Lions Club. I joined my club because it is full of people that are older than me and are doing well professionally. They freely give me advice and set a positive example for me.
Believe it or not, I have some mentors that I've never met in person! I am mentored by the writing of Dave Ramsey, John Maxwell, Michael Hyatt, Dr. Meg Meeker, Jon Acuff, Patrick Lencioni, Dan Cathy, and others. I don't have to have conversations with these folks to be mentored by them. I can take their published work via book, blog, video, etc, and learn valuable lessons from them.
The reason that I have mentors and the reason that mentors are so important to me are:
1. I have a lot to learn. And so do you. That being true, if someone can offer me positive advice--who am I to turn it down? Obviously I am careful about who I take advice from but when someone that is winning tells me how they are winning, I will listen.
2. A mentor's scars are my lighthouses. I would prefer not to get beaten up by life. If I want to avoid being beaten up and crashing into jagged rocks, I'd better look for lighthouses. Good mentors will share their negative experiences along with their positive experiences. By taking heed of spiritual or professional pitfalls, you can avoid some pain.
3. I fail. Not all the time but occasionally, I fail at something or at the very least I get discouraged. One thing mentors will do is help pick you back up and encourage you as you recover from failure. When they tell me that it will be okay, you have to believe them because they're credible! They know that I will be okay because they have failed before too and they're okay.
Mentors are such a key part of my life and if they aren't part of yours, you should seek out ways to add these types of people into your life.
