Age Should Speak and the Young Pay Attention
by Rick Warren

“Ask the previous generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors.” (Job 8:8 NLT)

God wants you to use your experiences to mentor others.

Mentoring is far more intentional than simply ministering to somebody when he’s hurting or motivating him when he’s down or giving him an example. Mentoring is when you actually take an interest in a person’s life and commit to helping him along.

1 John 1:3 says, “We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us” (MSG).

What is a mentor? A mentor is simply an experienced, trusted counselor or guide. What do you look for in a mentor? You look for experience. You look for perspective, and you look for somebody you can trust.

Actually the word “mentor” comes from Homer’s poem, “The Odyssey.” When the king goes off to fight the Trojan war, he leaves his kingdom in the hands of a trusted counselor named Mentor. Mentor actually teaches and raises the king’s son. That’s where we get the word “mentor.”

A mentor is like a personal coach. Everybody needs a personal coach and needs to be a personal coach. Personal coaches bring out the best in you. They see in you things that you don’t see in yourself. A mentor helps you with three areas: role, goal, and soul. What do you do in life? What are you accomplishing in life? And, what are you becoming in life? Mentors help you become what you can become.

The Bible says in Proverbs 25:12, “A warning given by an experienced person to someone willing to listen is more valuable than gold rings or jewelry” (TEV).

All education used to be done by mentors. In the Middle Ages, there were no schools.  You would be apprenticed to a master craftsman, and he would train you one on one. That’s how you would learn to be a shoemaker or one of many other crafts. Today mentors are used more than ever before. They use mentors in the military, management, sales, sports, schools, and politics. No athlete would think of signing to be a pro without a coach. Pavarotti would not think of singing without a vocal coach. Even presidents have their mentors.

Why? Because no matter how successful you are or how successful you think you are, you always need a mentor. You’ll need one the rest of your life. It’s how you get to the top. You’ve got to have people who are speaking into your life.

Job 32:7 says, “Age should speak and experience should teach wisdom” (GW). If you’re over 40, are you doing that? Are you teaching anybody? Are you sharing any of your experiences, or are they being wasted?

If you are under 40, this verse is for you: “Ask the previous generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors” (Job 8:8 NLT). Are you being mentored by someone with experience and whom you trust? It’s wise to learn from experience. It’s wiser to learn from the experiences of others.

Talk It Over

·       How are you sharing your experience with someone younger than you? If you are not, what can you do to pursue those opportunities?
 

If you are looking for a mentor, what kind of person will you be drawn to?

Denis Waitley says, “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” -Rabindranath Tagore 

"How far you go in life depends on your

being tender with the young, 

compassionate with the aged, 

sympathetic with the striving, and

tolerant of the weak and strong. Because

some day in your life you will have been

all of these."

-George Washington Carver

Tom preached about leaving a legacy that will outlive you. He quoted Babe Ruth's saying, "Never let your fear of striking out keep you from getting in the game". I'm thankful that each of you got "in the game"--and are investing in the life a child and modeling to them what Christ and His kingdom are like.

“The highest form of worship is to find the least among you and treat them like Jesus."-Mother Teresa

Juli McGowan Boit spoke at CA this weekend on the topic of "waiting". She said "Hope is a willingness to wait and ache." And I know that some of you are acutely aware of this as you love and serve your Kids Hope family. There are things that we ache for for each child: skills & abilities, changed circumstances, protection as they grow...and part of our job as mentors is to step in and offer hope...not in the form of empty promises and words, but by our presence in the midst of the struggles of our students. We stand with these kids in Hope that God is not finished yet.

During these turbulent times we must remind ourselves repeatedly that life goes on...

The mass attack of disillusion and despair,

distilled out of the collapse of hope,

has so invaded our thoughts that what we know to be true and valid seems unreal and ephemeral...

This is the great deception...

Let us not be deceived.

It is just as important as ever to attend to the little graces by which the dignity of our lives is maintained and sustained.

Birds still sing;

the stars continue to cast their gentle gleam...

and the heart is still inspired by the kind word and the gracious deed...

To drink in the beauty that is within reach,

to clothe one’s life with simple deeds of kindness,

to keep alive a sensitiveness to the movement of the spirit...

in the quietness of the human heart and in the workings of the human mind—

this is as always the ultimate answer to the great deception. 

~an excerpt from “Life Goes On” in "Meditations of the Heart" by Howard Thurman

Mother Teresa says, “There is always the danger that we may just do the good work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in – that we do it to God, to Christ, and that’s why we try to do it as beautifully as possible. He is with us in it”