Curious Christian

Well, I think I have chosen wisely in selecting Foundations of Christian Counseling as my semester one subject at Morling College.

Here I was, apprehensive about how I would go in a formal academic environment (given my learning style and past university experiences) and the first thing we were instructed to do in the course was to shove the desks aside and gather around in a circle. This course was to be experiential in concert with the expected cognitive download. Modeling based. I breathed a sign of relief. This was a gooood start.

What is more, I soon learned that 20% of the formal assessment is to be based on a reflective journaling exercise. Each week, so I am told, I am to reflect on the course material and its impact on me as a person and a developing counselor, to respond to moments of realization about things inside of me, moments of learning about how I relate to others, what I have learned about myself and my relationships that I previously wasn’t aware of. Does this sound suspiciously like blogging? You guessed it. You’re going to be reading my course work! Hey, I would be writing about it anyway, so why not kill two birds with the one stone and do the work in a way that fits my own context?

So, here be some reflective journaling. Firstly, I realized how little I actually know about counseling. I mean, I don’t even have a working definition. I do it intuitively to a certain extent, but how can I learn unless I bring this more to consciousness? So, it was interesting to reflect on the basic question of what is our job as counselors. Preliminary thoughts are that it’s about journeying with a person as they work through their pains and struggles – not presuming to know how to fix them, to be an expert on their problem – but to serve them in the healing process. Preliminary, yeah I know.

On the serving part though, we participated in a very interesting exercise. We were asked to make a commitment to others in the group with the words of the old hymn,

[Name of person], let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
And pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant to.

Sounds a bit geeky, I know, but as I looked each person in the eyes and spoke those words it was comfortingly intimate. And it charged the room with love and acceptance because it felt so genuine. A surprisingly powerful ritual. Lot’s to ponder on.

Note: This thread, College Reflections, is to be submitted for assessment as part of my coursework in The Foundations of Christian Counseling at Morling College
at the end of Semester 1, 2007. If you would like to speak to me about
issues I raise in this thread, but are concerned about privacy, please
email me privately  instead of leaving a public comment.