Issue 175
Have you noticed that you can get help in almost every phase of your working life? Teenagers consult career counsellors, applicants seek advice on CV writing or interview techniques whilst on the other side of the table employers are being advised on staff selection and recruitment. Once you are in work you can expect to encounter team-builders, management consultants, career development advisors, coaches, skills advisors, and stress counsellors. You can employ an agency to advise you on a career move, companies use out-placement advisors and everyone needs a little financial advice. So from career cradle to retirement grave if you want and can afford it you can have advice on just about anything.
Really wise and helpful advice is worth its weight in gold and sometimes costs it! To be on the receiving end of top-class input can be liberating and life-changing. It can set you free from what was holding you back and enable you to realise dreams, potential and who you are.
If you go anywhere near a carol service this Christmas, the chances are that you will hear the phase “His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor”. Written over 600 years before the birth of Christ this was the ultimate in pre-natal naming, but it was also accurate.
The explosion and the availability of counsellors has occured because we do need help. The problem, often, is finding the right kind of help: a counsellor who is, actually, wonderful.
The best counsellors focus on the individual. When Jesus of Nazareth did his work he specialised in individuals: an only child, an only brother, an only daughter received his care. He went out of his way to meet with one particular person -the kind that others shunned. He told stories about individuals because he understood them and whenever someone met him they felt like no one else was around.
The best counsellors really listen. You could tell by what Jesus said that he had listened not just to the words, but to the heart. His answers addressed the unspoken as well as the spoken questions.
The best counsellors ask great questions: “What do you want?” and “Why do you worry?”were part of his repertoire and they gave people room to reflect.
The best counsellors actually challenge as well as support. Non-directive approaches have their place, but there comes a time when a challenge is needed, insight is imparted and wisdom dispensed. Jesus of Nazareth never shied away from the truth of a situation.
The best counsellors live what they advise. There was an utter consistency in the life of Jesus. He preached forgiveness and forgave;he advocated love and he loved;.he rebuked injustice and was fair. He not only spoke the way, he showed the way.
But Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t just the best counsellor. His advice came with the power to heal, restore and mend. He was also able to release the prisoner from the traps of life. That’s why He wasn’t simply the best- he was and is the Wonderful Counsellor.
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Work well
Geoff Shattock
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