tBCW, part the next

Ouch. In replying to Erin, I left a comment longer than the original post. But it all got me thinking. And it occurred to me that:

the Better Christian Woman is an ESFJ. Or perhaps an ENFJ.

Are you familiar with the Meyers-Briggs personality type system? If you're interested in typing yourself, here's an online test, and another good overview. But it's a neat little way to sum up what Erin's been talking about. tBCW is an (E) extrovert--that's the hostess, welcome wagon, burbly, I'm-*so*-happy-to-meet-EVERYONE part of it. She's (F) feeling. It's the womanly thing to be. Sympathetic. Sensitive. Shedding tears over . . . well, whatever. She's J. Closure. Organized. The house is in order. The kids are on time. There are no loose ends in her life. She's *accomplishing* this Christian walk, because it's all in her day-planner and she follows it. Her spiritual life is in order too. There aren't messy loose ends like doubts about faith, or worries about why God allows suffering. Her life has well defined edges and her god does too. On the S/F item, it's open. S--sensing, produces an SJ, which is very much BCW. Follow the rules. Uphold the organization. Don't question the authority. Conform. There's a bit of room for an NF . . . though NF's tend to be disturbingly concerned with individuality for the BCW. But some women are *especially* sensitive and emotional, and there's allowance for that. Sometimes.

But here's the thing. There are 16 personality types. If you're one of the 14 others . . . Pity the poor introvert who doesn't want to open up during the women's bible study. Pity the poor, thinking T, whose impulse is to produce the solutions for people's problems instead of just listening to them. Pity the poor P--fully half of the population!, who are sure that the journey is just as important as the destination . . .

Christ seeks to make each of us most fully ourselves. Most fully what he intended us to be from before the foundations of the world were laid. He makes each of us a *unique* creation . . . and gives all of us to each other so that in all our diversity we may reflect back and forth to each other how each of us are made in the image of God. Christ does not seek to subsume me. Christ seeks to fulfill me. For surely it is my own sin that seeks to utterly destroy me. To reduce me from the image of God to nothingness. But God the Creator made me. Made me to reflect his glory. Seeks to grow me each day so that I may shine more and more of his light . . . Amen.