Sunday, April 01, 2007
Tranquilarty Thoughts on Mentoring
5th March 2007 10.43am
On Coach down South
On Coach down South
Historically man has been surrounded by mentors; advisors and guides to assist, help, support, direct or point him whenever the need has arisen.
As you are aware, I carefully avoid writing about definitions and this piece is no different. It is not about training courses or dictionary definitions - that's for you to do. This is a little something about us as mentors.
Whether we choose to be or not, we do become mentors somewhere along the vast journey of life. We will meet others in need just like some met us in need - and we will continue the centuries old tradition of mentoring. Sometimes in the most novel of ways. We may not acknowledge ourselves as mentors; but for sure we mentor in varying degrees throughout the course of life.
The young girl who helps the newcomer settle into class at junior school..
The teenager who suggests his mate should get appropriate help for his substance
misuse..The one who phones her everyday to ensure she hasn't given up altogether..
The one who texts him daily to remind him he has a Lord who loves him..
The one who is there to listen to her complaints, as she complains about her inability to work any faster towards her goal..
And the one who listens without imposing his views -
And the one who continues to throw the ball back into her court -
And the one who works effortlessly to empower him -
And the one who encourages her to continue towards her goal -
And the one who demonstrates empathy,
impartiality
& and an attitude of sincere concern.
We become these throughout life and take on the role of mentors.
Like others I do believe that the Path has many obstacles and hindrances which at times may cause a slip, trip or fall. But I also believe that God Almighty sends people throughout ou
r travels on the Path. These people 'appear' and help us.Sometimes they help us in acknowledging that we have obstacles and then leave us.
Sometimes they help us recognise and identify what these obstacles are.
Sometimes they help us remove these obstacles out of the way.
And sometimes they work with us to put into place plans or mechanisms for dealing with the obstacles, should we re-discover them later on in the way.
The Prophets [peace upon them all] demonstrated this.
Prophetic spirit helped man acknowledge, recognise and remove the obstacles that stood in his way to being the earthly ambassador that he was meant to be. The cultivation of future mechanisms to dealing with obstacles provided a springboard from which the growth of man occurred.
Through following the Prophetic footsteps the tools in dealing with these obstacles are aquired. When our path crosses with the ones who have these tools - we are not only assisted by the
power of those tools but also gifted some of the magic of the tools. In this way, once the one who came to assist us has left, we continue to use the tools to assist others....and like before sometimes we use these tools to merely help someone acknowledge the existence of obstacles and other times it extends to the identification and recognition of them. And other times still, we assist by the Permission of God Almighty in the [safe] removal of them altogether and so forth.
The cycle of helpers continues.
Now let us think about those helpers; guides, advisors and mentors who came into our lives and reflect upon what obstacles they helped us deal with and at what stage. What would our lives have been like had we continued unaided? How have we been saved simply through one thing our mentor taught us? Seldom do we stop to count the number of mentors our Lord Most High sent us.
And if we wish to do real justice to our mentors then let us pick up the tools they left us with and share the magic with others. For some of us have locked away the tool in a treasure-chest somewhere.
There is no time like now in opening the lock and lifting those treasures..
.. for everyday our paths are crossing with those faced with obstacles.
This was a pre-reading for the long-awaited post on the Chalice which I am still writing!
Comments:
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Could you kindly please reiterate the following sentence for your readers: "The cultivation of future mechanisms to dealing with obstacles provided a springboard from which the growth of man occurred."
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: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 4:45:00 am
: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 4:45:00 am << Home
