From a netfriend:

I liked your thoughts about the future breaking in and calling us forward. there is another paradigm at work: that which comes to us from the future and invites us to be part of creating it.

It reminds me of a line from a poem by A.D.Hope

‘Caught in the webs of memory and desire, The cooling and the kindling fire’

My understanding is that memory is looking back which has a cooling, calming, locating effect. Desire is looking forward which has a kindling, enlivening, hope-building impact.

We need both to look forward and back. To remember and to dream.

To locate ourselves and to stretch ourselves.

The lament psalms often pass through a step called Recalling God’s Mighty Acts in the Past. They needed to reassure themselves, get their bearings, recover the mood and stance of faith.

But the best lament psalms (like all prayers) end with the forward look, the great promises and possibilities. Psalm 22 employs both these poles.