Each Enneagram personality (1-9), in its most healthy expression, reflects an aspect of God’s expansive love for us. I’m a Two, and, if healthy, Twos offer boundless generosity and unconditional love.
However, “[Twos] believe they must always put others first and be loving and unselfish if they want to get love,” the personality chart reports.
In my current reality as the working mother of a toddler, I repeatedly deny myself care, then end up burned out. I’ve often adopted the role of Martha, helpful to a fault, never stopping to rest, because I was desperate to earn love. Faced with my sinfulness, I wallowed in self-loathing. In prayer, I pleaded with God, “Help me be different.”
Could I begin to love and forgive myself the way God does? I abandoned the laundry basket and walked to the kitchen in search of nourishment. The answer is, undoubtedly, yes.
The message is adapted from “The Enneagram and God’s grace,” by Erin Strybis in the September 2019 issue of Café.
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