Its almost Christmas-time! I know, I know. We haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet. But Christmas is right around the corner! This is my favorite time of year, not just because of the "magic" of Christmas but because of the natural opportunity provided to reflect on who Jesus is and what he has done for us.
Growing up, my family had a tradition of reading the full account of the Christmas story from the book of Luke on Christmas morning before we opened presents or started any of our other festivities. This helped cement within me the beauty of pausing to remember Jesus and the wild story that brought about his birth, which is of course why we celebrate Christmas. Pausing throughout Advent has become a rhythm and I find myself wanting to pause more and more in order to really engage the work God is doing in me and in the world around me, especially during Christmas.
So, in the interest of pausing and experiencing Christmas more fully, here are 4 ways the Enneagram can help you do this:
1. It can help you understand yourself better. By understanding yourself, you're more likely to know what you need from Jesus, and what would be most helpful for you to focus on in prayer and reflection in order to facilitate a deep, meaningful experience this Christmas.
2. It can help you understand others better. When you understand what makes other tick, it's much easier to relate to them and to give them grace and kindness. If those in your life choose to use the Enneagram alongside you, it can help facilitate meaningful discussions and develop intimate connection within your relationships.
3. It can help you connect with God better. The Enneagram is a great tool for identifying the ways that God has uniquely created each of us and uniquely speaks to our hearts. When we are able to lean in to the truth God has for us, we will connect with him on a deeper level.
4. It can help you experience the peace, love, joy, and hope of Christmas in a new way. The 4 traditional themes of Advent (the 4 weeks prior to Christmas day) are Peace, Love, Joy, and Hope. As we understand ourselves and connect with God more deeply, we are better able to interact with these things that Jesus offers us at Christmas. To help with this, we've (Dominic and Jena) written an Advent devotional that contains Enneagram-specific reflections for each day between December 1 and December 24. It's called EnneaDevotion and it's available as an e-book on Amazon for $5.99. You can check it out here.
We pray you find what you need to engage more fully this Advent season
and experience the peace, love, joy and hope of Christmas.