The future and optimism

Many people live with the unconscious or conscious expectation that eventually things will get better; wars, hunger, poverty, oppression, and exploitation will vanish; and all people will live in harmony. Their lives and work are motivated by that expectation. When this does not happen in their lifetimes, they are often disillusioned and experience themselves as failures.
But Jesus doesn't support such an optimistic outlook. He foresees not only the destruction of his beloved city Jerusalem but also a world full of cruelty, violence, and conflict. For Jesus there is no happy ending in this world. The challenge of Jesus is not to solve all the world's problems before the end of time but to remain faithful at any cost. Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

Remaining faithful in all things, in all trials and tribulations. There is often flawed thinking that when everything is going right you're following God and living the right life and the opposite that when things are going wrong then you're far from God and in the wrong. But one of the alternative translation of the Lord's prayer takes us to "Do not bring us to time of trial" rather than "Lead us not into temptation." Our thinking tends to lead us into causal thinking. What caused this state? This is part of blame culture and thinking. Rather first and foremost we need relational thinking, to cry to God and express our need of him. The need to remain faithful is more important than to portion blame or cause. Life is not black and white as the author of Ecclesiastes asks why good things happen to bad people and bad to good people and everything is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.