Midlife mentoring

I’ve had two unexpected conversations with friends this past week about mentoring and the importance of sharing our skills and experience with others, while at the same time I had been pondering the importance of this topic all week myself. Whew - talk about God tapping me on the shoulder telling me what I should write about this week! :)

As midlife creatives we have the unique opportunity to not only pour into the younger generation (which is of course super important, but is talked about a lot, so I won’t cover it in this post), but to encourage our own peers, as well. I don’t ever want fellow midlifers to believe they’ve missed out on their creative calling because they feel they need skill-building or mentoring that they didn’t get when they were younger. It’s not too late! If you have a creative spark in you to do something and you feel called to do it, reach out. Find someone more experienced in what you want to do. Ask them if they will mentor you.

And on the flip side, if you know someone looking to improve in an area where you are strong, I encourage you to gift them your time and talent. Coming alongside someone is a powerful act of ministry. It also has a multiplier effect by design. The more we pour into others, the more the Lord pours into us, which fills us up to give even more to others, and so on. And while all this pouring would make us exhausted in the natural world, in the spiritual world it is just the opposite: we become more and more energized by the Holy Spirit and more and more passionate about serving.

Reflection questions:

Are you feeling called to use your creativity in a new or expanded way but don’t feel prepared? If so, do you know anyone more experienced you could ask to mentor you?

Do you think of yourself as a mentor? If so, in what areas? And if not, what is one ability you have that you could offer to share? (I firmly believe you have many more talents and abilities than you realize!)

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…