i think i'm a hedonist

"Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief" -Proverbs

While we are earth-bound, there is always a white tinge of joy in every dark cloud, but there is also a dark cloud of sadness staining every sunny sky. We all long to be completely and utterly satisfied, filled with an eternal happiness. Epicurus went so far as to say that 

"Happiness is man's greatest aim in life."  

I think there's a lot of truth to that. After all, even if you think your greatest aim is someone else's happiness, it is still because it makes you happy to see them happy. In fact, I don't think God would have it any other way. Because He loves us, His greatest desir is to see us fulfilled and happy - with or without Him. We try so hard to be happy without Him and without His ways. All sin is seeking our own happiness apart from God.

The problem is not that we're seeking happiness, it's that we're not very good at it.

"Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible." 
-Augustine

What could be a worse hell than having one's greatest aim become an insurmountable impossibility? Aristotle surmised that true happiness could be found in the intellectual virtues and true friendship. John Stewart Mill settled for a system of ethics where each could at least pursue their own idea of happiness. The fact of the matter is, though, that,

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.  There is no such thing"  

-C.S. Lewis

Do not be ashamed to seek pleasure. Only, seek it well. 

For us who are in Christ, our greatest pleasure is to be found in loving God and loving others. As for myself, I take these words to heart:

"Be happy, young man, while you are young, 

and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. 

Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, 

but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment"

-Ecclesiastes

I have chosen to delight myself in the Lord, and I know that He has given me the desire of my heart: Himself.