Spiritual Mentors
As Doug so helpfully pointed it out in his comment on the last post, mentors are an invaluable source in the discernment process.
I am constantly blessed by the presence of mentors in my life. I have a vocational mentor, a spiritual director, and several spiritual companions who keep asking the deeper questions and who keep listening to the deeper tones of my life. And of course there are the mentors who come to us from across the years and miles in the form of their writing.
Keith Anderson and Randy Reese in their book, Spiritual Mentoring, cite Richard Baxter:
Writing to … Puritans in 1656, [Baxter] listed four groups of people who needed special attention: the immature, those with particular corruption, declining Christians and the strong. The last group, he declared, needed the greatest care. (p. 25)
Who among us has not benefited from the wisdom of others as we’ve discerned our callings in life? Sometimes it takes humility for us to receive this kind of care – and when we are feeling particularly strong, perhaps this is when we are the most weak, and the most in need of the deeper question from a mentor – the longer silence in the presence of a spiritual companion – so that our life may speak, so that the Spirit may speak.
And for those of us who are called to be mentors, Anderson and Reese offer these centering principles:
There will be three primary themes or empowerments you will watch for in order to develop the ever-unfolding story of your friend’s life: intimacy with God, ultimate identity as a beloved child of God and a unique voice for kingdom responsibility. (p. 29)
How has the ministry of a mentor impacted your life? Or as someone who also mentors, what have you found to be the greatest joys and challenges of this glad task?