"Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you." (Philippians 3:1 ESV)
We covered it in their first session. We gave God's specific wisdom for the particular problem our client was facing, we prayed with them that God's Word would shape their response moving forward, and we grabbed onto the hope that this insight would lead to beautiful change and a flood of peace in our client's life. All the while, our client nodded along—indicating they understood all that we were saying.
A week passes and our client returns. To our disappointment and our client’s dismay, they forgot what we covered and failed to apply any of it. They fell back into the most familiar ways of navigating their difficulties and have now added a solid serving of shame to their presenting problem. We offer grace and gently point them back to what we processed the previous week.
Another week passes and … you probably get the picture by now.
We are by nature forgetful people. Even with important things. Though we often know the right answers, we regularly fail to apply and live in accordance with what we know is best. We get blinded by the fog of life and the gentle intuitive pull of old habits keeps us from seeing that the way we are doing life isn’t working. We need help remembering.
So, may we like the Apostle Paul not grow tired of repeating the wonderful wisdom of God’s counsel. It is safe for us and safe for our clients. We must be careful of assuming our clients remember the simple truths of God’s Word we covered in previous sessions. Regularly repeating and reminding them of what we have processed is a means of helping our clients form new habits. Lastly, as we do this, we must also humbly remember that we are no different than our clients and need the same type of repeating and reminding in our own lives.
