Sometimes when a person has...
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Sometimes when a person has come to me for counseling because of incredible stress bearing down on them, I suggest we take a long, slow walk. Since most people expect to sit across from me in the study for the course of a counseling session, the suggestion catches them off guard, and is accepted. We go to one of the cemeteries in the area. I usually let the individual make the selection of our destination. When we arrive, I suggest we sit for a brief period. In that time, I ask the individual to share with me some special characteristics of his or her family of origin. After a while, as tensions are easing and the individual is more focused and ready for thought as well as conversation, we begin a slow circuitous walk among the headstones, stopping here and there to comment briefly on an inscription or some discovery. In time, troubles spill out and are put in perspective. Then we return. Despite the number of times I have done this, I continue to be amazed at the calming and yet energizing effect this little walk-talk has on people. I end the session by referring the person to Deuteronomy 10:12-22 (the "essence of the law") for prayerful reading and action. Always comes the thanks: "You were so helpful!" You and I know it wasn't me. You and I know it was the rediscovery of God's Word. -- Saxon
