He has turned His attention to the prayer of the destitute And, has not despised their prayer. This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD. Psalm 102:17-18 NASB

I read this portion of the psalm right as Anne, our daughter-in-law, was in labor with our 6th grandchild.  This little girl, Caroline Leigh, doesn’t belong to ‘a people yet to be created’, for the Lord formed her in her mom’s womb last summer. The psalmist mentions those YET to be conceived and born.  Can you imagine? Maybe Caroline’s grandchildren will yet praise our good and happy God.

I realized, ‘Maria, you need to extend your perspective about the future!’

That realization connected to something I heard on a podcast this week.  The guest being interviewed explained how in view of all the ‘catastrophizing’ the news media does, we need to: ‘Widen our now.’

His context dealt with one of the harmful side effects that 24/7 reporting provides.  Today’s consumer of media can easily fall into the trap of believing that these are the worst of times here in America.

My mother-in-law has lived for 93 years.  She will tell you that in general, things have gone from bad to deplorable. A decline in law and order, poor education, polarization and so on describe how she sees America.

The podcast guest I listened to explained that if we just go back 50 years ago to the 1970s, we’d realize that we are safer now in 2022 than back then.

To correct our tendency to employ tunnel vision he advised the listeners to include more years in their perspective. That is if we want to judge our times more accurately.  He offered the mid-1800s as an example of times far worse than now.

It’s pretty clear that if we are to maintain our perspective, no matter what is going on, we have to see our lives through the lens of ‘eternity past’ all the way into ‘eternity future’.

Isn’t that how God himself, the one who created time, views our days?