Bonhoeffer on Meditaiton

from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's little book, LIFE TOGETHER:

“It is not necessary that we should discover new ideas in our meditation...Above all, it is not necessary that we should have any unexpected, extraordinary experiences in meditation. This can happen, but if it does not, it is not a sign that the meditation has been useless...as if the discovery of our own inner poverty were quite below our dignity...seek not happiness--this is the fundamental rule in all meditation. If you seek God alone, you will gain happiness: That is its promise.”

“It is one of the particular difficulties of meditation that our thoughts are likely to wander and go their own way, toward other persons or to some events in our life. Much as this may distress and shame us again and again, we must not lose heart and become anxious, or even conclude that meditation is not really something for us. When this happens it is often a help not to snatch back our thoughts convulsively, but quite calmly to incorporate into our prayer the people and the events to which our thoughts keep straying and thus in all patience return to the starting point of our meditation.”