Spending time with my mentor-father was quite an occasion. Many times he would go about his business and life and I would just sit and watch and learn. To me it was such a privilege to be part of his life and receive from being around him. How he treated his wife, his children, his duties, his relationships, his love of God was all a life lesson and experience for me.
The thing about it was that it was who he was. he wasn't teaching, instructing, commanding or demanding, he was just being himself. He didn't have a 10 point plan. He didn't insist I have to attend some seminar. He didn't even expect an offering, a contribution or a honoury gift. The fact of the matter is he was still learning himself about the power of the mentor-father role for his life as a leader. But yet, he was natural at it. I personally believe his secure sense of being, his confidence in being just who he was, was more powerful than any teacher of the principles with great revelation.
The journey lasted a number of years and still continues in a rich relationship even today. We do not live in the same city right now, but we correspond regularly and know each other in spirit regardless of time or space.
Someone said that I would be a deformed mentee because I was not in the same vicinity (or something to that like that). Immediately, he affirmed my relationship and told me to ignore such comments. We are still in a mutual beneficial relationship while those with the 10 point plan and regulation are not even around anymore.
Being a mentor-father is about being; about fulfilling a role that flows naturally out of who you are, without effort, without force, without coercion. It's about giving an impartation by being and being there. It's about imparting your presence, your life, your values, and your character to another.
Being a mentee is about being there to receive, to allow your worldview to be molded, your value system to be challenged, and your life to be influenced, until you can be without effort.
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