I’m undeterred not because I am strong, but because I have seen the strength of my mentor.
This is the first blog installment for Post Session Podcast. We are an ocean themed podcast with the stoke of a surf session and the wise guidance of an ocean voyager. Click to listen to Episode 9.
In the episode Mentors and Dolphin Farts Laurel, that’s me, and Ashley -Wax on and Wax off- about surfing and freediving mentors. We both, and I suspect we all, have had amazing mentors who have touched our lives in big and small ways. During the podcast Ashley mentioned that I was one of her spiritual mentors. Yes, I am as surprised as you are! And maybe we should say a quick prayer for Ashley as she is obviously in desperate need. But regardless of Ashley’s dire situation it reminded me that we all touch lives in meaningful ways, and we were designed that way.
Recently, I attended an event called Banner Year Blueprint, where we mine last year’s lessons and fashion this year’s goals. Inspiration Lab puts on many of these events each year. During the event I was encouraged to think about goals in the different areas of my life including physical- we all have resolutions for that! -but also relationships, work, and spiritual life.
As I brainstormed each category, I realized each one should also have a mentor.
I am a writer and I have a writing mentor. She is wonderful and ultimately it was her who first pressed me to try fiction. “You are so creative. You should try fiction,” she said to me at our writer’s group one night. Her words, simple yet powerful, were all it took. Although I am now writing my second novel, I’m still unpublished. Writing is an arduous journey and not for the faint of heart. I’m undeterred not because I am strong, but because I have seen the strength of my mentor. She straddles the ups and downs of the industry with grace, as rejection letters hit like the crushing of a giant wave, but every time she gets back up. She’s had success, but it is never without the faith and grit to not give up. Blood and guts are likely.
During the Blueprint event, a lightbulb went off. Although I have a spiritual mentor, a pastor who has been in life for twenty years and completely opened my mind to the fullness of Christ, he is a man. Duh. I don’t have a spiritual mentor who is a woman and it dawned on me that I want one. I guess that isn’t really true. My mom is a spiritual mentor and so is my writing mentor. Honestly both are spiritual giants. I guess what I’m thinking of is someone who did some living on the other side of grace for a while, who is older than me, and who wouldn’t mind spending a little time with a knucklehead like me.
If you don’t know what a dolphin fart is, I encourage you to listen to the podcast?