Sunshine Yellow and Fiery Red...........

This weekend I've laughed at myself.......... a lot!

I spent Saturday at a leadership day called 'Discovery' which majored on understanding myself and others better. I've always loved stuff like Myers Briggs, but this was by far the best (and funniest) model I've taken part in. I discovered that I have 'sunshine yellow' and 'fiery red' energy which means that among other things, on a good day I'm, 'uplifting, spirited, radiant, determined, friendly, complex, buoyant, affirmative, enthusiastic, sociable, dynamic, bold, assertive and always in motion', but on a bad day I'm 'driving, controlling, too excitable, frantic, hasty and intolerant'!
Even the fact that I have an untidy desk most of the time and need to 'see' things to remember them came out in the personality attributes - If you know me you'll see why I laughed a lot! One of the best things about the day was remembering that many of the things that drive me mad about myself are actually expressions of who I am rather than 'failings' - and the very fact that I see all the things I'd like to change so clearly, is actually a result of my personality driven need to move forward............

I learned (and remembered) a lot, and got a few surprises along the way. At one level it would be easy to see this kind of personality modelling as a license to settle for less, and use the findings to dismiss our failings as just things we can't do anything about because the God who created us isn't surprised - either by our strengths or by our weaknesses.
He delights in our complexity, personality foibles and the things that make us intrinsically who we are - He sees us as a precious child, not just a long list of 'things that need to change'. Rather than giving me an excuse to settle for less however this becomes the very inspiation to seek for more .......

"You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day" Psalm 39

God alone enables me to delight in who I really am, facing both my strengths and weaknesses. He always believes in me, forgives me my failings and is truly the reason I live.




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