There are many occasions we speak of something in the past, but in the form of the future. For example, I might have tried to learn to ride a bicycle. Let’s say I had difficulty maintaining balance on the bike. I might say in the “future tense” that I would easily cause problem to pedestrian and even other vehicles if I did cycle in public areas. We know the future is a sort of imagination, a figurative thing. It might indeed happen, but that’s not the intention of why we say the “future past”. We are expressing a sort of “potential” idea. Whether that does take place is not a matter; it’s really merely expressing the potential idea.
I often recall something in the past that was funny; things that were said in a hurry, without much thought, amongst friends. It caused that kind of wild laughter. We might recall how chaotic we were behaving when we experienced a major thunderstorm. The short moment that took us to dash into a building, it was only about 10 seconds, was too long to get us completely wet.
Somehow, it helps us cope with a traumatic experience. We recall the jovial moments, and we re-cast it in the future, and we know that it will again break out in uncontrollable laughter.
Whether we are holding on to the past, or only momentarily in different times of the day, such “future past” can work as a healing process.
More importantly, it seems to help us be who we ought to be, because we have a sense about that thing that was in the past is encouraging us to do well in what we set ourselves to do. That might be holding on to the past, but in a fruitful way. It can also help us to move on from the past: where the past acts as a reminder to stay on the course to be the best of who we are in the eyes of God.
