"Where can we live but days?"

This quote struck a chord with me. I live too much in the yesterdays and tomorrows.  It seems to be the human condition although there are those rare individuals who seem to naturally live each day with ease and joy. I envy them. The rest of us live too much in "the past, a guilty place, or the future, a hanging threat" to quote Horatio Clare in The Light in the Dark. I do make an effort to snap myself back to the moment but it takes constant vigilance and it wears me out. The strange thing is that I'm a fairly optimistic person. Denial is my coping mechanism, my daughter tells me, and it's a really happy way to live, I must say. But, I'm also extremely introspective and too easily slide down the slippery slope of worry, fear and regret. If I am making a New Year's resolution it is this: to live each and every moment with purpose and gratitude. To reflect on the past in a good way, with kindness, grace and the sort of observation that will help me do better next time. To look to the future in hopeful expectation and trust Christ to lead me on a straight path. And to feel this way about it all:

What are days for?

Days are where we live.

They come, they wake us

Time and time over.

They are happy to be in:

Where can we live but days?

-- excerpt from Days by Philip Larkin

Blessings to you as you live happily in all of the days of the New Year!