Returning to a conversation yesterday: we both want a quiet year to come. In the last year we have wed, merged households, seen two children leave home and one finish school: next year one will (we hope) be with his mother and studying in another town, two boarding and studying here. We have three parents left, and they are suddenly looking frail. And none of us trust our leadership — at our workplace, in the city, and the nation.

But we can concentrate on those things we can control. Stickwick, who teaches astrophysics for a living, commenting on the current round of political angst, said this.

God continually shows me his goodness by bringing good out of every bad circumstance. With all this turmoil, with most of our cultural and political “leaders” revealing themselves as faithless cowards, betrayers, and servants of the enemy, I finally understand what Paul meant in Philippians when he said he found contentment in whatever circumstances he had.

Until recently, my contentment was so dependent on circumstances, that I almost never felt peace. Now? We’re in the midst of such an obvious decline, carried along by forces that are so far beyond our control, that it has broken my attachment to this world. What no one can take from me is my love for and obedience to God. For the first time in my life, I am feeling what it is like to be content and free. Praise be to God.

Can. Confirm.

Found one of old favourite bookshops in Sydney. There was the latest Tim Ferris self improvement book there. Left it. Looked at the political books. They were facile.

I am bringing driven to either very new authors or very old ones.

And I am choosing to be content with what I have, and praise God for the small things.