I’m pretty sure that Fuuka’s temperament is that of a sanguine. Reading the description of that particular temperament feels like Tim LaHaye spent a day with Fuuka and tried to describe her afterwards: “Sparky Sanguine is warm, buoyant, lively and fun-loving.”,
“Sparky sanguine has an unusual capacity to enjoy herself”
or: “When (she) comes into a room of people she has a tendency of lifting the spirits of everyone present by her exuberance.”
Ayumu, on the other hand, seems to be a choleric.
“Rocky Choleric is the hot, quick, active, practical and strong-willed temperament. He is often self-sufficient and very independent. His is not an aimless activity, for he has a practical, keen mind, capable of making sound, instant decisions or planning worthwhile, long-range projects. He is not frightened by adversities; in fact, they tend to encourage him.”
Add Flip Phlegmatic (Hanno) and Maestro Melancholy (that would be me) to the mix and you’ve got an exciting mix brewing! (Little Nanya hasn’t done the personality test yet :-P)
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not trying to put my kids in boxes and I know it’s early days. But reading Tim LaHayes famous book “Spirit-Controlled Temperament” got me thinking a lot about raising my kids and discipling young believers.
Because, as I disciple both my kids and people outside my own family, I find myself in a tension between two statements that I consider true:
1. We are all called to obey the same Lord, the same Holy Spirit and the same Bible. There are no exceptions based on personality, history or circumstances.
2. We are all different.
Holding those two realities in tension is honestly one of the big challenges of motherhood for me! What am I supposed to do when I call “fun-loving” Fuuka to come to me (“RIGHT NOW!”) and she turns it into a “fun” game of running away from Mama? What do I do when Ayumu pushes a kernel of corn higher and higher into his nose because he “is not frightened by adversities; in fact, they tend to encourage him” (okay, this one is easy. And it happened a few days ago…)?
And what do I do when sparky Sanguine in her “unusual capacity to enjoy herself” destroys rocky Choleric’s “worthwhile, long-range project” of LEGO towers?
And as I disciple young believers, how do I evade the temptation of making them cookie-cutter Christians who might rebel one day against biblical commands that their unique temperament finds stifling? How do I not yield to the other extreme of license and permissiveness, excused by “that’s just how I am”?
I find LaHaye’s differentiation between temperament, personality and character very useful in this regard. To find out why, listen to the podcast 😉
To the edge of the Earth 