The Counseling Corner
By Rev. Judith T. Lester, B.Min. M.Th
This month this column is highlighting a Mother’s Board Luncheon sponsored by the Progressive Baptist Church (Milwaukee). Their emphasis was Titus 2 Mentoring and Bridging the Generational Gap. This week, tips will be provided for the Older Woman (mentor) and then to the Younger Woman (mentee) on ways to intentionally interact with one another based on an article by Jean Williams “Woman to Woman: Answering the Call of Titus 2” (2010). Be blessed.
The older woman
(The mentor)
• Share your life, thoughts, and struggles. Let younger women “see your progress.” (1 Tim. 4:15.)
• Ask questions. Be interested. Be slow to give unsolicited advice.
• Listen.
• Share how you read the Bible and pray. Talk about how you deal with temptations to worry or gossip.
• Invite women into your home. Let them see how you run things. Teach a young woman how to make and keep a budget.
• If you’re married, welcome a single woman into your family, especially on occasions like Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• If you’re single, model godliness in long-term singleness: show how your trust remains firmly in the Lord and how you serve Him in your circumstances. Model godly relationships with the opposite sex.
• Enlist young women’s help in helping others. Spend a day together visiting an assisted living or nursing home. Teach Sunday school together.
•Be intentional when you go to church. Sit next to a younger woman and ask how she’s doing living as a Christian.
• Be involved in young women’s lives. Call, text or connect with them on a social media networking platform. Remember their details and ask about them.
• Write a younger woman an encouraging note, telling her how you’ve seen her grow in godliness. Ask how you can pray for her.
The younger woman
(The mentee)
• Respect older women and what they’ve learned and have to offer.
• Listen.
• Attach yourself to an older woman you respect and ask questions. Seek out an older woman who is standing firm in her faith, persevered through suffering, has a heart for evangelism, who has raised her children well, who respects her husband, or who trust God through longterm singleness or childlessness. Write down questions to ask her.
• Ask an older woman to read a book with you.
• Older women may not want to push themselves on you. It may be up to you to take the initiative.
• Call an older woman and ask for advice and prayer the next time you struggle to pray, manage your time well or love others.
Next Week: Bridging the Generational Gap
The writer does not assume responsibility in any way for readers’ efforts to apply or utilize information or recommendations made in this article, as they may not be necessarily appropriate for every situation to which they may refer. This information is for educational purposes only. If you would like to contact Rev. Lester, write to her c/o P.O. Box 121, Brookfield, WI. 53008.
