Mentorship: Flying on the Wings of Others

There are things in life you wish you had understood from a younger age. Mentorship is definitely one of them.

I never really had a mentor growing up, in fact I never really believed in having one. I always felt God was taking me to a place where no one had ever been, so there was no point taking anyone’s advice on my way there. As I fought through life’s challenges, I realised that thought had more pride in it than I could ever have imagined.

In fact the year I decided to get myself a career mentor, I made more advances in my career than all other years put together. It was a grand awakening for me.

In other aspects of my life, I always had people I looked up to (my dad being the first), people I called for advice, but never really kept them close enough to be accountable to them. I read a lot of biographies and learnt a lot from people from a distance which is probably why I didn’t turn out too bad. As the years went by, I realised I could have made more advances in my walk with God, relationships, time, focus, decisions.

From weakness to strength, from grass to grace, and from nothing to something. Mentors make you fly by taking you on their wings.

Certainly, we can grow in wisdom without the help of mentors because we’ve got the Word of God and we’ve got the Spirit of God dwelling within, so that is sufficient. On the other hand, there’s a lot of wisdom that can be gained by talking with people who may not necessarily have gone down the path you’re taking, but you notice they’ve taken a similar path and have a certain level of grace on their lives.

Inasmuch as people may say we live in a generation that has a distaste for mentorship and accountability (soon to be discussed in another post), I also believe there is a shortage of spirit-filled mentors who have the pure motive of helping and seeing others grow and flourish. Mentors who listen, intercede, model, teach and set the pace.

It’s no doubt that you and I need individual mentors (not just people we admire from a distance). You may think they are people who just interfere with your life, but to be honest, we need them, so we can remain focused on the call God has on our lives. I’ve been more purpose-driven since I fully submitted to mentors.

And as closeness is established between you and your mentor, truth becomes clearer. You begin to realise as you navigate this difficult path, the path less travelled, that you avoid silly mistakes and gain a full picture of the whole journey to truth and freedom.