Wanted:

One female mentor. Preferably over the age of 25, of strong faith, who loves God; willing to give up 1-2 hours a week to help younger female with questions about the Bible, Christ and life in general.

It occured to me tonight, as only a sudden revelation can-conversing with a good friend over coffee, fattening but well worth it desserts, and an abandonded scrabble game-that there are years of experiences, growth, struggles, and epiphanies wasting away when they could be passed on to people like me. People who are in desperate want and need of guidance.

I am surrounded by women that I admire and look up to, women who have dedicated their lives to something that I believe so strongly in that everything else seems dull in comparison. But even though I am surrounded by them, it feels like I'm watching from a distance, attempting to learn through them merely by looking at them. Instead, I should be engaging in powerful conversations about subjects I don't understand, and seeking advice about the parts of life that I am merely crawling through when I should be flat out running. The truth is that I want them to be a bigger part of my life. I want them to tell me their life histories, so that I can know how they came to be where they are today. I want them to help me, to guide me, so that I can no longer be a child, but a woman of God. So that I can have even a piece of the gentle and quiet spirit that Christ finds so elegant and beautiful in us.

And I know I'm not alone. I know this because my friend told me she's been thinking the same thing, and she's not the first one to have said so. It made me think about all the girls and boys in the world wanting someone to give them a push or a direction as they try to find Christ in amongst the screaming voices of the world. Think how many young men and women are out there craving a deeper more meaningful relationship with the Christians around them that they respect and appreciate. Think how those horrendous, four, long high school years could have improved with a mentoring relationship to carry you through. I've been blessed with many close friendships, and while we have had discussions too numerous to count about our latest hurdle in life and our newest confusions, there's something that's even more valuable when that conversation comes from someone older than yourself. Someone who has already made the journey through those years.

The worst part is, how do you find such a thing as a mentor? I see potentials everywhere but I'm too afraid to ask. I don't know how to ask. And furthermore, it feels almost selfish on my part to ask them to be inconvenienced in having to give up some of their time-which in our day and age seems to be the most valuable thing we've got. It is a terrible loss though, that all that knowledge and wisdom should be kept to oneself.