Alaska Cruise with Dr. Steve Seamands
A Word from Dr. Steve Seamands, Instructor for the Alumni and Friends Alaska Cruise
I don’t know who came up with the Animal School Fable, but as the story goes, one day a rabbit, bird, fish, squirrel, duck, and so on decided to start a school. When they sat down to determine the curriculum, the rabbit insisted that running needed to be included and the bird insisted on flying, the fish on swimming and the squirrel on perpendicular tree climbing.
Then they made the glorious mistake of insisting that all the animals take all the courses. The rabbit was magnificent in running, but they believed it was good intellectual and emotional discipline to teach the rabbit flying. So they put him on the branch of a tree and said, “Fly, rabbit!” And the poor thing jumped off, broke a leg and fractured his skull. He became brain damaged and then couldn’t run well anymore. So instead of getting an A in running, he got a C. He got a D in flying (because he was trying) and the curriculum committee was happy.
The bird could fly all over the place and was making an A. But they insisted that the bird burrow holes in the ground like a gopher. However, when he burrowed, he broke his beak and his wings and couldn’t fly. But they were perfectly happy to give him a C in flying, and so on.
And do you know who the Valedictorian of the graduating class was? A mentally challenged eel! Because he could do almost everything fairly well. By the way, the owl dropped out of school, and now votes “no” on all tax elections that have to do with schools!
That fable still makes me laugh, but you may be wondering what in the world it has to do with “The Life of Prayer,” the subject we are going to be exploring together as we travel on the Asbury Alumni Alaska Cruise this July. So let me explain.
Prayer is at the heart and center of the Christian life. It is as essential to Christian existence as breathing is to human existence. So Paul exhorted the Colossians, “Devote yourself to prayer” (Col. 4:2). According to John Wesley, it is “the grand means of drawing near to God.”
Every Christian, then, is called to a life of prayer and to enroll in the school of prayer. However, like the animals of the forest, we are not all the same. When it comes to prayer, one size definitely does not fit all. Our life of prayer and curriculum of prayer must be tailored to fit our personality and temperament.
We will set ourselves up for frustration and disillusionment in our life of prayer if we try to be someone we’re not. And yet, over the years, I have conversed with scores of Christians who are doing that very thing. Instead of wobbling like the duck they were created to be, they are trying to climb like a squirrel. No wonder they are confused and discouraged!
Twenty years ago, I was greatly helped by reading Prayer and Temperment, a book by Chester Michael and Marie Norrisey, which considered prayer in the light of Myers-Briggs Personality types. The authors compared and contrasted the life of prayer of four great saints of the church–Ignatius, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Francis of Assisi. These four, representing four major personality types, were all deeply involved in the life of prayer, but in each case, their particular prayer practices were unique and significantly different from the others.
Ignatius developed a very disciplined, exact, orderly method of prayer. Augustine’s approach was more contemplative, mystical and intuitive, while Thomas was drawn to the rational, cognitive dimensions of prayer. Francis was certainly unique too. He liked to pray outdoors as he wandered from place to place, encountering God’s creation and engaging with people.
Well, you get the point. It’s important that we understand our unique prayer type and get comfortable with it. If you are a squirrel, don’t try to fly like a bird or wobble like a duck. Accept yourself and be who you were created to be. There is plenty of room in the forest for us all!
Well, this is just one of the things about prayer we will be talking about on our cruise to Alaska. There is a whole lot more (such as some of the different types of prayer like devotional prayer, healing prayer, authoritative prayer, intercessory prayer, contemplative prayer, etc). But we’ll save that discussion until July. Hope you can join us!
If you would like to learn more about this cruise:
Click here to see the full brochure!
We hope to see you this summer!
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