Episode: 8)
_______________WELCOME
You Can Mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others.
_______________SHOW NOTES
1. Trust the Lord.
- In mentoring, we are actively making a commitment to relationship. Commitments come with conflict.
- Pray for your mentee. It will soften your heart. It will stir up faith and belief for the relationship. You will begin to see what God sees in them.
- God loves when we face tension head on and learn to trust Him in it. When you face a trial in your mentoring relationship, don’t let it discourage or deter you from moving forward.
- Difficulty is not failure. Facing difficulty in the relationship is not a clear cut sign that the mentor relationship is failing. It may actually be a sign that it’s working.
2. Mentoring is a Marathon.
- We’re in it for the long haul. Sometimes what you say today won’t actually register until years down the road.
- Tackle today's issues, not tomorrows problems.
- In a marathon, some miles are a lot tougher than others. You’ll have seasons where it’s uphill. Seasons where it’s downhill. Find your rhythm, and stick with it when it gets tough.
- Don’t expect them to change overnight.
- Don’t compare yourself to other mentor relationships.
3. Celebrate every improvement.
- Ask yourself, “What’s the trajectory?” If you move an inch every week for a decade, you might look up and be rather impressed with the amount of ground you’ve covered.
- You will gain so much more ground if you tell a kid what he is doing right instead of what he is doing wrong. Focus on the positive. If he is doing one thing right and ten things wrong, focus on the good. The rest can wait.
- Celebrate the wins. Focus on the good. Be your mentees biggest fan.
- When you encourage someone, you show your committedness to their growth. You are interested in their flourishing. If you can’t find something to encourage, it’s more about your committedness to them than their lack of performance.
- No kid has been celebrated too much.
- Something is encouraging them, and that encouragement is influencing their identity.
- In a world that assumes the worst, we are going to believe the best and call it out.
