Truth As Uncomfortable Transformation
Blog post by Emma McCoy
6 minute read
https://www.trvst.world/mind-body/what-are-enneagram-triads/
The Enneagram is a personality test that sorts people into numbers one through nine. It’s been around for a long time, and has more recently been adopted in Christian circles as a way of gaining insight into one’s personality and learning style.
Now, I want to make it clear that personality tests, including Enneagram, don’t define a person. What they do is act as a tool. A tool that can help explain, outline, and provide insight into why a person moves through the world in the way they do.
The numbers of the Enneagram have names. The 2 is the helper. The 9 is the peacemaker, and the 8 is the challenger. I am a 3, which is known as the Achiever.
I could get into all the different ways I like to achieve and perform, but that would take a while and would require a different blog focus. What I will talk about is how, for the Enneagram 3, the path to virtue is telling the truth to yourself. Naming reality, putting true words to a situation, and refusing to live in a made up world. Steinbeck puts in well in his novel East of Eden, when a character Abra refuses to be with her boyfriend anymore because he has made up a fantasy world and refuses to leave it.
This is going to be a more personal blog. As a 3, I would much rather put my head down, do the work expected of me, and call it a day. Deep, introspective work is uncomfortable, and living without feedback from others looks much more attractive. Telling the truth isn’t easy, because it’s much more comfortable to live in a reality I can control.
However, even though it’s more comfortable to control reality, it’s not God’s plan for me, or for anyone. In Steinbeck’s novel, Abra falls out of love with her boyfriend Aron, because “he can’t grow up.” He can’t be in touch with the world how it is, and he actually spirals out of control. Living a lie feels easier, but it’s a false comfort.
A few weeks ago, three magnets were introduced at our Common Table gathering: choice, comfort, and control. Choice: The best way for me to grow is to be with people like me; Comfort: I already like and respect the people Jesus is sending to disciple me; Control: I get to control how Jesus transforms my love for others. These magnets are examples of what can pull us away from participating in what God is doing in our lives. If my heart is a compass, and Jesus is magnetic north, then the magnets of choice, comfort, and control can pull me away from Jesus.
What does this have to do with the Samaritan woman at the well (or anything at all)? Last week, Jessie gave an excellent message on the woman at the well, and how Jesus’ friendship with her challenged what the disciples thought was reality. They thought that Samaritans were lower than Jews, and that Jesus wouldn’t want anything to do with their kind. They wanted the choice of who to share Jesus with, and a Samaritan wasn’t a comfortable person. Jesus will use unexpected people to discipline us. It’s not an ‘if,’ it’s a ‘when.’ Sometimes Jesus uses people we already know and like and respect. But he’ll also use people who are unfamiliar, invisible, and unexpected. And it won’t be comfortable. The truth was that Jesus was using the woman to disciple his friends, and send his message to the Samaritans. The truth is that Jesus came to save everyone, and he came for the invisible. But the magnets of choice and comfort were pulling the disciples away from that truth.
In this blog I’ve talked about the magnets of choice, comfort, and control. Not telling the truth to myself is comfortable, and I like controlling reality. We choose magnets because they feel good. They’re easy, and they feel good.
All of this, the unexpected friends, the woman at the well, Jesus, Enneagram, magnets, and telling the truth, come together when Jesus sends someone to disciple me. If that person is someone unexpected, I don’t really want to be transformed. I think the way I love is comfortable, and serves me just fine.
But Jesus knows better (inconvenient how that works). I have to have the gumption to tell myself the truth and allow myself to be discipled by someone I didn’t see coming, just like the disciples when it came to the Samaritan woman.
Did you notice what I did there? I did something very typical of an Enneagram 3, where I said I just “have to have the gumption” to do something. Pull myself up, do the work, and rely on no one. Very characteristic of the Achiever. And so I have to tell the truth as well: I can’t do it alone. I’ll say it again. I can’t do it alone.
The Holy Spirit is what allows us to be transformed. It takes what we think is reality and flips it around to show us the truth, that Jesus is magnetic north, and we can’t love each other without Him. He did it with the centurion, the Samaritan woman, and countless other people we might never know about.
Now, sometimes I run face-first into the point and still miss it. I don’t tell the truth, I don’t see what Jesus is doing, and I miss the person I’m supposed to see. But when it goes right, something transformational happens. Like comforting a grieving girl in my class, or being in fellowship with friends older than me, or coloring at church with someone who I never would’ve otherwise met.
I’ll end today’s rather vulnerable blog with some vulnerable questions: When was a time where you saw someone unexpected, and leaned in? When was a time when you lived a lie, and it backfired? When was a time where you told the truth to yourself when it mattered?
It’s a lot of questions, I know, but there’s a lot to think about. Come think about it with us this Sunday at Heading North, in a community of people who acknowledge the truth that we are hurting people who hurt people. There’s a lot to learn, and a lot to discuss. Email info@springchurchbellingham.com with any questions.
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