Mentors

Mentors

Older Women

Read: Titus 2:3-5

Peggy finished cleaning up the kitchen and hurried out the door. Twice a month, Thursday was the highlight of her week. Last fall, she felt that she didn’t have much to look forward to, as her last child had graduated and taken a job halfway across the country. Then Peggy volunteered to be a mentor with the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group that met at her church. She didn’t have all the answers, but she willingly gave a listening ear and encouraged the young mothers as they shared their concerns and challenges.

The second chapter of Titus encourages older, more spiritually mature women in the church to train the younger women, helping them to grow in their relationships with God and in their family roles. Such an arrangement was beneficial to everyone involved. These relationships gave the older women honored positions in the group of believers, made them feel valued, and enriched their lives as they reached out to others. In turn, the younger women with growing families received the benefit of their mentors’ practical wisdom and experience.

In our transient, urban-centered society, many young women live far away from their extended families. They miss having mothers, aunts, and grandmothers nearby to offer advice and encouragement for the demands they face. In many settings, different age groups are segregated. Groups such as MOPS make it possible to have relationships in the pattern that Titus suggests.

Whether or not we are in a formal mentoring relationship, someone is watching and learning from our example—whether good or bad. Regardless of our age, we all have some wisdom or insight that we can share with others, and there is always something we can learn from them. As long as we remain willing for God to teach us, we will have something to share with others.

Encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11