How she does it

We seem to be quite the team, my wife and I, and I would be less of a counselor without her. There are times, when we are working with someone, when I just want to cut to the chase. All the chit chat and blah blah just crimps my style and does not allow me enough time for my agenda. "No more digressions, please," I say in my head, "there's no need for them. I have almost arrived at the climax. The demand for work will soon follow." My brilliant plan is often derailed by the humanity my wife insists on injecting into the interaction.

And thank God she does.

She sees sides of things that I do not see - stresses and strains on the face of the one we counsel as she insists on pursuing a relationship with the person we are counseling.

And thank God she does.

She's sees a human where I see a project. She sees feelings where I see rationality. She sees fear where I see resistance. She sees hope where I see hope, but the hope she sees is in the relationship the one we are counseling has in their God and Christ where I tend to see it in the application of the principles that the same God and Christ has given to us to follow and apply.

Yes, I have a lot to learn from her as we walk hand in hand through these days and these opportunities that God has brought our way. I hope that I will embrace her approach, in ever-increasing measure, and refine my own as she sits across the table from me.

Thank God she sits across the table from me.