PURPOSE AND PLACE OF MENTORS. (Part two)

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ONE CALLOW TEENAGER AND THREE WOMEN

It would probably surprise these three women as to the impression they had on my artistic development at secondary school. I am almost certain they are unaware of the gravity of their individual roles in my life at the time! With the benefit of hindsight, I can only marvel at the bouquet of roles each of these God’s sculptors played in shaping my future, my creative development, and in the long term, my Christian ministry. I often imagine thousands upon thousands of sculptors are instruments in the mighty Hands of God shaping destinies, as did Mrs Elizabeth Okpagu, Mrs Onyechi and former Miss Azuka Mbanefo in my own case.

Mrs Okpagu was my English Language tutor. Whatever appreciation I have for this subject derives directly from the influence of Mrs Okpagu. On her first day in class, Mrs Okpagu made a foundation-moulding statement. A smartly dressed woman strode into the classroom one crispy harmattan-laden morning, swept the room full of faces with a determined glance and said, ‘Because you speak English in the various homes from which you come does not mean you would necessarily pass the subject. It is not as easy as many of you think! With this opening, she had the undivided attention of thirty odd students as we stared with rapt attention. I decided there and then to tackle English with passion.

Thus began my tutelage in English Language during which my perspective toward the subject altered considerably. The Lord, foreseeing that I would one day put pen on paper for ministry purpose, had placed this woman along the path to ground me in the language for my larger ministry.

I affirm that I see the Lord as the Greatest Artist there is. God had never seen the whole of creation before He made them. I am convinced He only imagined creation, as forms and shapes in is His heart, and then spoke words for the Holy Spirit to concretise. I better appreciate the whole of creation because such ornate magnificence could only have come from the living canvass of a Master Artist. I came to this comprehension attending Mrs Onyechi’s classes.

As my Fine and Applied Arts tutor, Mrs Onyechi, a British woman married to a Nigerian, encouraged me to let my mind wander creatively before I put anything on my worksheet. Next, she assisted me to master the technique to describe moods and feelings in vivid colors with the nuances of light and shade. I learned that colors had temperaments and connotations, like words, and being critical ingredients of articulation for the artist, I had to learn their sublime nuances. During these experimentations, I grew flair for abstract thinking! The so-called humanists have stigmatized this noble task by giving it a quirky image; I deviated to study engineering. God did the first abstract thinking ever!

Miss Azuka Mbanefo, on her own part, was more a friend than tutor. She headed the school drama club besides teaching English and Literature-in-English. It was the drama club that brought us together. Of course, many people found it incongruous that a student offering Physics, Chemistry and Biology was so immersed in the drama club. Miss Mbanefo did think this at all. She had invited me to join the club after all.

Miss Mbanefo put me at ease so that the flower of my dramatic flair may burst from incubating buds; she worked with me to develop my dramatic skills in an unencumbered atmosphere. It came as no surprise when my first script and my first solo production won the first Inter-House Drama and Arts Competition of the College and college debate at NTA Channel 6 Aba.
These three women mentored me in different ways that I did not fully realize until long after these moments had passed. It is with the benefit of hindsight that I have over the years come to recognize the role they played in my development beyond being teachers.

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RIGHT AND ATTRACTIVE ATTITUDE

Yielding to the auspices of any probable mentor entails developing the right and attractive. Do it for your proper development or you might end up underachieving. Mrs Onyechi, my former fine and applied arts teacher in secondary school, made her greatest contribution to my development as far as I can determine on this point.

Mrs Onyechi had noticed my performance in her classes and had taken interest to encourage my progress. In turn, I responded enthusiastically and positively to her back up. One particular term, toward the grey days of the session, Mrs Onyechi recommended me for inclusion in the school’s speech and prize-giving day organizing committee. This position was privileged since membership of the committee was based on being a prizewinner. While working together on this committee, we grew close. But by my fifth form, and close to final examinations, something happened which was to leave lasting impression on my outlook.

The students in the fifth form were to take what was called ‘mock exam’, a euphemism for the last school examinations before the west African school certificate examinations that climax five years of secondary education. The mock exam was unique in two respects. Firstly, and most importantly, it was a dry run of the real thing administered by the West African Examination Council. Secondly, the school authority used it to predict the outcome of the finals. Understandably, the mock exam always made every fifth form students nervous in those days.

On the day of mock exam fine and applied arts paper, I was enthralled I was in my natural turf. I was assured of at least an A. if I should bet on it, all my classmates would back that bet to the hilt. And the ‘A’s were very important; there was keen competition to count the ‘A’s you had tucked under your belt. Getting a top score in the fine and applied arts paper was something I took for granted.

A few minutes to commencement, the invigilator purposefully strode into the examination hall. There and then I found out Mrs Onyechi was to invigilate her own paper. Though the entire fine and applied arts was subdivided into sections, I had chosen to do the aspect of still life, the section taught by Mrs Onyechi. She gave a brief prep talk, offered everyone best wishes, and on the dot of the hour ticked off the paper. We had two and a half hours to work.

I am certain I completed my real work in less than two hours. Rather than turn in my worksheet and vacate the examination hall, I lingered to savour the gestured cheers of my classmates who had gathered by the window to watch ‘the champ’ work. By the time the invigilator snapped, ‘pencils up’. I was preoccupied with an imaginary something that I wanted to improve on my worksheet. Mrs Onyechi repeated herself only once before marching briskly to my seat and snatched my worksheet. Her next action rescued me from the clutch of pride…… forever!

Deducting marks as was the expected penalty, but Mrs Onyechi shocked me into stupefaction by tearing my worksheet in two halves. ‘Victor, you need to learn to be obedient. I am your friend, but then you should not take advantage of the fact. Now you had better prepare yourself for your Finals’, she said curtly and walked away. I was aghast.

Though I failed my Mock Exam Fine and Applied Arts paper, the beginning of the story, for me at least, was that I went to score an A in the Finals. Above all, I learned something that I still live by: do not allow familiarity to breed contempt.

God bless Mrs Onyechi!

MENTORS BECOMES TORMENTORS?
How would you feel when your guardian starts casting spears or other dangerous weapons at you in the thick of a drunken stupor? David found himself in such precarious situation with King Saul.

Jacob did not come to be mentored by Laban directly, but circumstances forced his hand. He took to livestock rearing, the very business his future in-law was engaged in. And Laban dealt with the younger man with a sleight of hand.

Abraham rather than Tarah was called of God. However Tarah hijacked Abraham. Thank God that Abraham got a second call!

Perhaps you are a younger minister who has trusted an older member of the clergy and now you feel betrayed, as you seem to be to be taken advantage of. A preacher once alleged, ‘ In the church, the older ones are using the younger ones for territorial expansions. ‘

Eli was presented with rare privilege to redeem his patient failure with his own wayward sons. He got a second chance to raise a priest in his stead since his sons could not be trusted to discharge the ecclesiastical office the father occupied or be held accountable. Unfortunately, Eli mustered only half-hearted enthusiasm. He pointed the way to Samuel and stood aside for the boy to figure it out by himself. Well, he came to an end as sad as it was unfortunate, due to other complications in his life.

Once more, I consider Mordecai and Esther. It is most interesting Mordecai did not seek to gain an upper hand in the land due to his filial ties with the new queen. Our leaders and their relatives here need to learn this lesson. No sooner have some of our leaders reached leadership positions would their relatives become lords of the manor. The office thus seems to give relations unwritten and sweeping rights. Are we not witness to the ridiculous extent some of these people carry on? More baffling are those who would egg them on in their delusion. Those who need favours for instance may approach the office holders through conniving relatives! Mordecai was made of sterner stuff. He only compelled the queen to act during a national emergency when there was a threat to the existence of the people of God.

A mentor-protege relationship can go seriously askew. The full weight of responsibility rests on the mentor; he or she is the pivot on which the relationship turns. But any mentor, without cultivating and sustaining a deep and enduring FELLOWSHIP with the Spirit of God and regularly receiving clear directives from the heavenly throne for your life, becomes your tormentor! What happens is a fracture of mentoring, possibly irreparable damage might occur.

Pray for your mentor that the weight of responsibility would not overwhelm him or her before the day of reckoning.

It is the tenacity of Elisha that I want to commend to any prospective protege. Elisha knew clearly where he should be positioned in God’s scheme of things. His faithfulness to God and to his mentor was rewarded more than amply.

Persistence pays immense dividends for the hardy protege. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th American president, said, ‘Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “‘press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.’

I have to remind you that there is glaring need to commence cultivating productive relationships that would prove pivotal in our life. This is not to encourage you to go out on a limb to take advantage of people. Of course, people can smell opportunists a mile off. Grow genuine friendships and productive associations founded upon mutual sharing, mutual respect and other common interests

Sidney J. Harris wrote, ‘Mankind has always solved its technical problems. We are an amazingly resourceful species, and our inventive capacities have scarcely been tapped. If something is physically possible, we will find a way to do it, but our real problems, as we all know is moral, not technical. Moral in the broadcast, most basic source of finding out the right relations among people. We know what these relations ought to be, but we have had little luck putting them into practice throughout most of human history.’

Always remind yourself that the quality of the relationships you foster is proportional to the level of the creative potential that you carry within that will come to full expression!

CONCLUDED.

Please RESTEEM, UPVOTE AND COMMENT.

Below is link for part one:
https://steemit.com/chriastian-trail/@praise-eu/purpose-and-place-of-mentors-part-one