Mentoring, coaching, succession planning and employee development are all buzz words for today’s organizations. The baby boomer’s are starting to leave the workforce and there is concern that the generations to follow are not prepared for the future challenges. Leaders have a responsibility to develop their staff regardless of what the retirement picture looks like in their organization. Several years ago I was tasked with developing a program to build “management perspective” for our staff. We had several young supervisors and several more to promote. We created a series of supervisory programs that exposed these young leaders to a variety of “business” and leadership topics. A mentoring program was started that allowed employees to function in supervisory positions under the guidance of their existing supervisor then on their own. These employees endured 120 hours of classroom training and countless hours of field training from the time they started the program until they completed their probationary year as supervisors. The bottom line is that with or without a formal program, leaders have an obligation to develop people to achieve all that they are capable of.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 2 Corinthians 4:17

As Disciples of Christ, more than the word of God is mentoring us in our lives. The trials and tribulations of this life are making us stronger for what lies ahead in eternity. Our troubles are momentary but they sometimes seem to pile up. It’s not what is happening to us that matter, it is how we react that counts. St. Paul is telling the Corinthians and us, that our troubles are light and momentary. For those that believe we know that no matter what is happening, we will have eternal life in Heaven. We all struggle with “momentary” as if we are applying it to our understanding of time. Open the bible and find peace for what troubles are burdening you. Stop looking for the meaning in “why” and start looking at how you can react, with God at your side, to the trouble you are facing. Giving up your control and letting God work in your life is very hard. We have been promised eternal life through Jesus Christ not an easy life here on earth. Celebrate the gift and live to His glory – the glass is half full.