Can We Find What We Seek?

The game of seek and find: Every morning after we walk our dogs, two of them Chase each other around the living room coffee table. It’s quite entertaining to watch these exuberant spirits tease each other, bark, and run around in circles.

The little one eggs the larger one on and keeps slightly ahead of him in the chase. Then she stops short and he catches up to her. The two stand there for a moment with a look on their faces like, “Now what do we do?” Then the little dog runs in the opposite direction and the other guy takes off in hot pursuit.

Watching them, it occurred to me that their fun is in the chase. Once the chase if over, the play is lost. Then, to keep the action alive, they must start the chase again. If this sounds familiar, it is. We humans are in many ways like those frisky canines. We thrive on striving, searching, seeking, and yearning. When we do get what we want, we are satisfied for a moment, but then we are on to the next chase. And the game goes on.

Finders – Chasing after Dreams

Some of us have been chasing for so long and hard that we have developed identities as seekers. We look for things more than we find them. You may even be proud to proclaim yourself a spiritual seeker. But have you ever thought about proclaiming yourself a spiritual finder? How would your world change if you started finding more than seeking?

In the clever and entertaining film, Princess Bride, we meet Inigo Montoya, who is on a lifelong mission to avenge the death of his father, who was killed by an assassin many years ago. Inigo is constantly swirling his sword, practicing his revenge statement: “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Finally, Inigo catches up with the assassin and does him in. Afterward his friend asks him, “Inigo, now that you have avenged your father’s death, what will you be doing?” Inigo stops in his tracks, a blank look overtakes his face, and he replies, “I have been in the revenge business for so long that I don’t know what I would do without it.”