Female Mentors

She Looks Up to You
What is a mentor anyway, and why does it seem there are not many around these days?

You might think a mentor is someone who lives by example. Perhaps... but I also think a mentor is anyone who is willing to just be real and allow others to learn from their mistakes. No one is perfect and I certainly think that none of us are qualified to be held up on a pedestal.

With mentoring it seems as if there is always those who look up to you, while you are somewhere in the middle, and then there are those whom you look up to.  I have many peers that I consider to be mentors. Most mentoring relationships are lateral, and include someone with more experience in an area or areas that the person on the reciprocating end can benefit from.  Some mentoring relationships are more horizontal. For example, I consider my closest friendships to be this way. These are the women who speak into my life, and when the time comes, I speak into theirs. In these relationships, my friend may be stronger in one area, and I may be stronger in another, so we mentor each other.

I don't know if I consider myself a mentor, but I would like to think that despite my many mistakes in life, I would have some sort of impact on the women around me. I am also ever so thankful for the strong women in my life, who I look up to. 

Do you consider yourself a mentor to other women? Whether you think of yourself as a mentor or not, you are. None of us are off the hook just because we don't feel like setting an example or don't want to be a mentor. You may not know it at the time, but there is always someone watching your life. 

In Search of Heros

Here is a quote from an article called "In search of Heros, Where are the Female Mentors?"

"It is NOT because of a lack of time—every person (male and female) that gains the respect of the mentoring request is already too busy. Taking the time to mentor is simply a matter of priorities. Those of us who mentor regularly are extremely busy with our careers and yet somehow....we realize the importance of a legacy....
A mentor does not have to DO anything special, they simply have to BE themselves and LISTEN and answer questions honestly. That is enough!

Where are our female heroes?"

Original Link: http://www.randyelrod.com/in-search-of-heroes-%E2%80%94-where-are-the-female-mentors/

"Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." Titus 2:3-5

Who do you look up to and why?