That paradoxical perspective was likewise shared by E.M. Bounds, the Southern pastor and theologian of the last century renowned for his many fine books on prayer. Though slightly wounded, ravenously hungry, bitterly cold, and now made servile at the hand of unwelcome invaders, Bounds understood that the past is but a prelude to the future and that the present is necessarily tutelage in an unending process and thus not to be chaffed at. It's lessons never end. No matter what circumstances may bode, we remain under the bar of instruction forever.
Every incident builds upon the last and anticipates the next.
For many, it is sad to say, this uniquely Christian perspective is an entirely foreign worldview an alien notion, an arcane paradox, an unfathomable mystery. Minds dulled by the smothering conformity of popular culture cannot plumb the depths or explore the breadths of the distinctively Christian virtue of hopeful contentment in the face of perpetual tasks. Thus they rush toward what they think will be the termination of this, that, or another chapter in their lives. They cannot wait to finish school. Thus for instance, graduation is not a commencement for them, but a conclusion .