Counselling these days is in vogue, some mention therapy like they are going on a coffee date or a weekend getaway. This wasn’t always the case though. Several years ago conservative Christians dreaded being suggested that they needed counselling, feeling eerily close this getting an ‘F’ on their report card or being made to feel that they were the problem that needed fixing all along. These and many other related fears made counselling room a frightening quarantine zone. Over the years of being a biblical counsellor, I have come to appreciate counselling as a way to care for and cure the entangled soul.
A year ago, a jingling sea-shell chime found its way into our home from the dreary shores of Sam Roi Yot islands. Ive always be in awe of the translucent beauty of capiz shells strung together to create the most ethereal music, and so I was blessed to bring one home. On the way however, this delicate piece got all jumbled up within, the strings entangled one with another and the shells became inseparable. The chime had lost its charm, and unless someone held it up and worked their skilful fingers through the messy knots, the seashells weren’t going to see the light of day. Working through them wore out my patience, and I soon found that while I untangled one set of strings, other more stable shells jumbled up too, and the entire chime went off balance. All the while what kept me going was the hope of hearing the heavenly tintinnabulation again. Finally one day, the strings fell in place, the shells held their posture in balance and began to jingle once more. The glory of the symphonic-shell-choir made the whole painful process worth it.
Restoring the inner-man balance of a person is the artistic process of a skilled counsellor. When a person walks into the room, they may have a hard time sifting through their pain, their situation or their sins. They may feel like a tangled mess of shells. They may not often know this but what they need is someone to hold them up while working through their entanglement. The counsellor is not expecting them to untangle the mess by themselves, any more than the shells are able to do so on their own. But holding them up can help them see the light of hope and wholeness again, and we learn to patiently work through their perceived mess through caring questions, Scriptural light and encouragement. This ministry is explained to us by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:14, “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” Be patient with them all. This ministry of disentanglement calls for patience, wisdom and love. On that painful journey we teach them to hope again in the sound of God’s music in and through them, that God is not yet finished with them, and their concerto is yet to start. Ive seen one too many souls walk in feeling messy and hopeless only to leave few weeks later feeling a renewed sense of vitality and hope. My Capiz shells now proudly hang on my balcony, refracting the sun rays with her ornamental colours, jingling and dancing in the cool summer breeze.