“The only thing you should owe to anyone is love for one another, for to love the other person is to fulfill the law. All these: You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and all the other commandments that there are, are summed up in this single phrase: You must love your neighbor as yourself. Love can cause no harm to your neighbor, and so love is the fulfillment of the Law.”

Romans 13: 8-10

 

 

Soooo. How does one love a polluter who would expose children to a toxic waste dump? for years!!

How does one help (do therapy) a person who has this toxic lie buried in his consciousness?

The Greek “therapeuo”(sic) means to ‘cultivate a garden’ as well as ‘render service to God’.

How? Offer him the tools and invite him to garden with you;

(identify your spade, cultivator, rake, wheelbarrow, etc.)

remove the rocks together; look forward to new seed together.

The laws and agencies are the pains that make one seek therapy. Look for the opportunity to see with him that those pains are a blessing (Pains are warning signs that make us seek healing.) Work alongside him to take out the rocks –the big, heavy ones that take people working together to move; and the little, ubiquitous, constantly recurring ones that irritate. Rejoice over the rain that comes to clean and renew (and make us feel like we are going to be washed away).

Connect him to an appreciation of the stages of cultivation:

l. claiming the land (the problem, the scope, truly “the lay of the land”)

2. assembling the tools (agencies, funds, neighbors)

3. remembering the dignity of work

4. starting in the correct season

5. digging at the correct depth

6. clearing the ground thoroughly (no little lies)

7. fertilizing with manure (Nature provides what will renew even tho it may be despised and messy.)

8. being patient

Each stage done faithfully will produce food for his body, food for his soul.

(and for lots of people, 10 fold, even 100 fold)

The Therapist remembers everyday to thank Godbeyondunderstanding for the opportunity. For we can cultivate; only the Holy Spirit can heal.