Hendrickson Publishers - Mentoring: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life

Everyday life today is busier and more distracting than it has ever been before. While cell phones and texting make it easier to keep track of children and each other, they also make it harder to get away from the demands that overwhelm us. Time, it seems, is a shrinking commodity. But God, the Creator of time, has given us the keys to leading a life that may be challenging but not overwhelming. In fact, he offers us tools to do what seems impossible and come away refreshed and renewed. These tools are called spiritual practices, or spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual practices are holy habits. They are rooted in Gods word, and they go back to creation itself. God has hardwired us to thrive when we obey him, even when it seems like his instructions defy our common sense. When we engage in the holy habits that God has ordained, time takes on a new dimension. What seems impossible is actually easy; its easy because we are tapping into Gods resources.

The holy habits that we call spiritual practices are all geared to position us in a place where we can allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us, to grant us power and strength to do the things we cant do on our own. They take us to a place where we can become intimate with God.

While holy habits and everyday life may sound like opposites, they really arent.

As you learn to incorporate spiritual practices into your life, youll find that everyday life is easier. At the same time, you will draw closer to God and come to a place where you can luxuriate in his rich blessings. Here is a simple example. Elizabeth Collings hated running household errands. Picking up dry cleaning, doing the grocery shopping, and chauffeuring her kids felt like a never-ending litany of menial chores. One day she had a simple realization that changed her life. That day she began to use her chore time as a time of prayer and fellowship with God.

Whenever Elizabeth walked the aisle of the supermarket, she prayed for each person who would eat the item of food she selected. On her way to pick up her children, she would lay their lives out before God, asking him to be there for them even when she couldnt. Each errand became an opportunity for fellowship with God. The chore that had been so tedious became a precious part of her routine that she cherished.

The purpose of these study guides is to help you use spiritual practices to make your own life richer, fuller, and deeper. The series includes twenty-four spiritual practices that are the building blocks of Christian spiritual formation. Each practice is a holy habit that has been modeled for us in the Bible. The practices are acceptance, Bible study and meditation, celebration, community, confession, contemplation, faith, fasting, forgiveness, gratitude, hospitality, justice, mentoring, outreach, prayer, reconciliation, Sabbath rest, service, silence, simplicity, solitude, stewardship, submission, and worship.

As you move through the practices that you select, remember Christs promise in Matthew 11:2830:

Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

Introduction

to the Practice of Mentoring

For those us of who are doers and more comfortable with visible spiritual disciplines, considering the discipline of mentoring can bring a sense of relief and delight. Finally, action verbs! Something to do! And certainly this spiritual practice will most likely have results that are easier to identify than some of the less tangible practices. Its easy to think well grapple less with understanding this discipline than ones such as fasting or confession. In some ways, thats probably true. Service takes many forms, and were familiar with it from an early age.

Defined as an experienced and trusted adviser, a mentor is usually older than the person being mentored and has gained a greater degree of knowledge, wisdom, and experience in a particular area over a period of years. But as Mindy Caliguire says in her article Why We Mentor (Everyday Matters Bible for Women), the most important qualities for a mentor are love and genuine concern for another individual. As a mentor, she says, you can actually care about someones spiritual development and are willing to come alongside her for a season of her journey.

Mentoring gives us the opportunity to learn and to teach. Our goal will be to reacquaint ourselves with mentoring, for God desires us to be ever on a continuum of learning and teaching, of serving and being served. Such a rhythm keeps us sane, refreshed, inventive, and humble.

As you go about this visible discipline of mentoring, offer yourself for tasks to be doneand be aware that God, as usual, is up to something we cannot see. Yes, there are needs, and you are part of the solution. And yet God has something for you as well within the service and within the mentoring. He has plans to use it to grow you in discipleship.

C H A P T E R 1

Being Teachable

Mentoring the Mentor

Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

Matthew 11:2930

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For this study, read 1 Samuel 3 and John 1:3550.

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Despite my best efforts, I was struggling so much at work that I began to feel hopeless. For many months, Id been logging long hours and sleeping fitfully, only to start the cycle again the next day. I couldnt understand it. I had a masters degree and had always excelled at my jobs. I didnt know if my failures at work had led to hating my job, or if hating my job had led to the failures. It all became a blur of defeat, defensiveness, and despair. My mother, always my kindest supporter, asked my uncle, who worked in human resources consulting, to give me a call. In a conversation frequently interrupted by my breaking into tears, he listened, asked a few questions, and then gathered his thoughts. I dont suppose theres a way to leave the position any time soon? he asked. There wasnt. The job market was tight, and I had lots of student loans and living expenses to pay. He understood, and I was ready to listen and learn. What he suggested countered all the negative talk Id been feeding myself. Youre too young to stop learning, he said. Even in a bad situation there are things you can learn. Make this job your classroom.