Recently, I have read To Kill a Mockingbird again and noticed the narrator Scout Finch talking about the routine contentment of her young life growing up in Alabama. What a lovely phrase – routine contentment.
And so, I think that is what I must look for in my daily routine, being alert to the small joys strung together like pearls, pearls singled out in the grit and grind of the ordinary.
I’m with Phillip Larkin, who wrote that we spend too much of our lives with time torn off unused. This does not mean I will be an “Energiser Bunny” in 2024, but it does mean that I will use my time thoughtfully this year.
I will, if not exactly seize the day, at least contour it into a shape that promises effort of some sort for some good.
The Psalmist reminds us: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (118:24)
