I just read a fascinating email exchange between a good friend and a fellow smart person. The topic of conversation was "Are some people predisposed to being good at prayer?" An interesting question. As I considered the thought that some people are just good about being regular and disciplined - and one's suggestions on how materialism, technology, self control and more affect our psyche, I was brought back to a brilliant book I read over the summer that gave me real hope for prayer amateurs.
Prayer and Temperament by Chester P. Michael and Marie C. Norrisey won't be everyone's cup of tea. Based on the four core Myers Briggs personalities it explores how our strengths, weaknesses and methods of perception and process affect not only how we interact with God but which Gospel writer's account of Jesus' life we're most likely to connect with.
I am a firm believer that prayer is for amateurs, that God excludes no-one from conversation, relationship and the chance to be changed and change the world around us. If people find prayer hard - they simply haven't found their language yet. This book took by intuition (oh yes - I'm an 'N') and gave me some solid reasoning as to why some personalities find prayer easy and others struggle.
Most fascinating was the exploration about how different streams of the church teach prayer in ways tailored to only one personality type. (It goes into detail on this looking at different monastic traditions.) If you find prayer hard maybe the way you've been taught isn't for you?
What do you think? Read, experienced or discussed anything around this topic? As our conversations amidst friends evolve I may blog again about where we're heading with it. Until then - conversation in the comments.