Who's Your Timothy? - Do you pour the richness of your life's journeys into another?

Who Is Your Timothy?

This next relationship is a little different than the last few because this is not a relationship that has as much of an inward focus as the others. This relationship is directed outward. Timothy was Paul’s mentee. This was the kid that Paul took under his wing. The one to whom Paul taught all he knew.

Len Sweet tells of an old African proverb about a band of elephants that come upon a raging river. The big elephants don’t even hesitate. They just step right on through the rough waters, but the small elephants freeze. They are afraid to take the first step into the raging waters. “Elephants are known for never forgetting.” As the big elephants are crossing, one of them looks back at the smaller elephants standing on the banks and shouts to the elephants in the front, “Brother, we have some folks who haven’t made it into the water.” The bigger elephants don’t hesitate at all; they get back into the water and stand shoulder to shoulder until their bodies create a dam that slows the water enough for the smaller elephants to cross over.

“How many people who make it in life, who get to the other side, forget to remember?”

How many people who have experienced all of the ups and downs, the pitfalls and valleys, the strange twists that life can take, refuse to turn back and help those who are following those same paths?

One thing I’ve noticed today is that many of us tend to see people following in our footsteps as threats to our positions as opposed to necessary helpers, and perhaps mediators, and harbingers of change. A wise boss once told me, “Fred, I want to teach you everything I know. I want you to be able to do my job at least as good as I can. That way, if a position opens up that I want to bid on, there will be no reason to hold me here because you’ll be ready to step in.” Now don’t read too much into that statement and think that my old boss, Mike, was being selfish. Mike, knew that in order for him to move forward, he needed to train up someone to be able to at least fill his shoes. In fact, Mike always told me that I was smarter than him and could do more than he could ever do. So he made me his protégé.

Timothy was Paul’s protégé. He was a younger, less mature version of Paul. He was a single-parent child who Paul called “son.” Paul was duplicating a relationship that he had in his own life... In Paul’s life, before he had a Timothy, he had to be a Timothy. His mentor was Gamaliel. Did you have a mentor? Someone who showed you the way? Someone who schooled you on the tricks of the trade? Someone who could position your mistakes as teaching moments to move you further along your path?

Maybe its time for you to pass that wealth of experience and wisdom you have developed onto another. It will enrich your life.

Here’s a note for Timothy’s and Paul’s alike… Your Timothy doesn’t need to be—should not be, your clone. Natural reproduction does not produce clones. Natural reproduction produces something that is unique, different, perfectly imperfect… So why should your Timothy be any different. How boring would life be if we were all alike? More importantly, how stagnant would our worlds be if we lived in a system full of clones?

Allow your Timothy to be different, remembering that different doesn’t mean better, or worse for that matter… different doesn’t mean wrong… different just means different. Some of the people I love most in this world are the ones who embrace the fact that I am different… that I don’t fit into anyone’s mold and don’t want to… that allow me to be me with no regrets. Those differences can breed innovation… change… transformation… They can enrich your life if you would only embrace them. So, as your Timothy grows, allow her/him to be themselves and to embrace the fullness of all that they are called to be.

Written by Frederick A. Hanna