Musings: Notes From My Daybook

"Seek God, not happiness"—that is the fundamental rule of all meditation. If you seek God alone, you will gain happiness—that is the promise of all meditation.  --Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Regarding the passion of seeking after things, Cardinal Wolsey is a real poster boy.  After Wolsey's well-documented and single-minded pursuit of power, position, and wealth ended in his fall from grace with Henry VIII, William Shakespeare places these words on his lips to Cromwell:

Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me.
    Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition:
    By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then,
    The image of his Maker, hope to win by it?
    Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee;
    Corruption wins not more than honesty.
    Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
    To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
    Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,
    Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st,
    O Cromwell,
    Thou fall'st a blessed martyr!

Seeking self, or seeking God's agenda?  Jesus presents two alternatives.  Only one presents a way of sharing in the joy of God's life.