Step 5 to Increase Your Peace

I sincerely hope you found the right time and place to just sit and be since your were here yesterday.  If you did, I’ll bet you are already a bit more at peace than you were the day before.  Well, move right along with our series of 10 Proven Ways to Increase Your Peace…

5. Find a mentor who knows how to live well.  To the degree that I am living well today, I can attribute it directly to the mentors who have invested so richly in my life over the years.

I think of Harry Fitzgerald, who instilled in me a passion for singing to the glory of God during my boyhood years.  Gary Wilson, my junior high Bible teacher and senior high choir director, reinforced that passion and added to that a deeper love for God’s Word and a greater vision for growing into manhood.  Mike Harris, a local youth minister who graciously welcomed me into his life and group at different points along the journey, showed me how to teach and inspire with creativity and exuberance.

Gabor Siklosi, the senior pastor at the church where I began my journey of working with teens and their families, showed me how to love God and family with all your heart – at the same time.  In recent years, I have been blessed beyond measure by Eddie Parish and another brother (who prefers to remain anonymous), two dear friends who each call me to greater spiritual wholeness and integrity by the lives they live before me.

And I could go on.  My life has been so richly blessed by terrific mentors!  Men (as well as some women now and then) who have invested in me, because they believed in me and they had something worth sharing with me.   Thank you from the depths of my heart to each of you who have shaped my life with your examples, encouragement, and challenges.

Okay, we were talking about peace, right?  (ADHD doesn’t have to be a bad thing.  Make it work for you!)  Having great mentors in my life has not eliminated troubles, tests, and hardships from breaking into the comfort zone of my daily life.  I still have to weather storms regularly.  But I have peace of mind and a safe haven now to shelter me through my life-storms.  Several factors have played into that (which I am including in the present blog series), but having good mentors has been vital.  They have shown me how to endure.  How to live by faith.  How to take hold of courage and step out into the mouth of the storm, if that is what is needed.

And they have been there with me in the storms.  Being alone in a storm is Hell!  Finding peace can seem virtually impossible.  Having someone weather the storm by your side makes the storm bearable.  Having a good mentor by your side makes the storm an opportunity for growth and adventure, such as you just couldn’t imagine without the experience of having mentors.

Who are the mentors who have touched your life?  Do you have active mentors in your life today?  If not, WHY NOT?  Who could be your mentor, if only you would seek that kind of intentional relationship from them?  Who are you mentoring?  We’d love to hear about your mentoring blessings!  Just click on the title of the blog post and leave your comment at the bottom of the page.