Her Name is Mentor

Her name is Mentor.  She is many faces in many places.  She is the hand that has shaped me, formed who I am today.  She is the voice that has called me beyond the edges of what I would ever be without her.

I was the sixteen year old girl crying into my pillow at night because my mother had been diagnosed with cancer.

She was the phone call, the invitation to meet for ice cream. She was the ear that listened, the sympathy that hurt with me.  She was the youth minister’s wife to a youth group I hated.  She was the gateway for me to fall head over heels in love with that youth group that forever changed the course of my life.  Because she took the time to be with me.

She was the youth leader that circled me round her table each week.  She was the call to deep, feeding me books, passion, opportunity, leadership.  She was the challenge to serve, to get over myself.  “See that new person over there?” she’s say.  “Go introduce yourself.  Make her feel welcome.”

She is my mother, my father too, dubbed with the world’s most daunting task of raising a human.  She is the every day up close example for life and love.  She is the weight of the countless decisions of parenthood.  She is the sacrifice and devotion that I only understand now as a mother myself.

She was my college mentor, the investment of late nights and laughter and love.  She knew good food, fashion and fun.  She was the calling out of my gifting, the breather of hope, the example of faithfulness, the someone to turn to.

She was my college professor, the one that taught me to craft words, to splice sentences, to speak with the quiet power and authority of the Holy Spirit.  She grew my love for the written and spoken word, inspiring me with her own excellence.  When I grow up, I want to be like her still.

She is the overseas wife and mother, the one I’ve always admired for the way she’s raised a thriving family in this place.  Like me with a daughter and two sons, her wisdom for me is drinkable.  She is strength and gentleness.  She is boldness and humility.  She is the believer of my dreams, the one to join me in them, to invest and make them happen.

She is the voice of innumerable preachers, authors, and teachers, each of them faithfully offering up their word from the Lord, the word that touches and changes me, moving me along as I find my way, my story, my word.

Her name is Mentor.  She is many faces in many places, more than I can name here.  She has not always been where and when I wanted her to be.  And I’ve missed her so.  But there is growth in that wilderness too.

She is all these pieces of me.  I hear her voice coming out of me.  I feel her hand reaching through me.  Because I am called to be her.

Her name is Mentor, and now she is me.

 *****

Who has poured into your life and shaped who you are today?

Are you in the wilderness right now, longing for a mentor who is not there?

Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk via Compfight cc