I have often reflected that if you have an eternal perspective, like let’s say God would have, then you really would not have problems per say. Problems indicated a temporary state of inconvenience, or pain that you are currently suffering but that will eventually end. An eternal perspective, one in which there is no end, you would have an eternity to sort things out and overcome obstacles, but then why would you even bother? Interesting question. With infinite time, comes infinite possibilities.
However, we do not have to worry about that do we!? Well, maybe we do. However, that is an after life question. During this life, we have a short span of time and in that case problems became truly a thing to deal with. We only have a finite amount of time to deal with a limited set of problems, so we should consider what problems we work on very carefully! You would not want to end up one day, with your time all used up, and reflect that you never really solved any problems of significance. Choose carefully what you consider a problem worthy of your time!
If you increase your perspective, lengthen it if you will, beyond today and beyond this year and even perhaps beyond multiple decades you will see problems for what they are. If the problem is something that can be overcome within your lifetime and will take a good portion of your life then it is probably worth considering as a problem to solve. If the problem is larger than your lifetime, then perhaps you should consider something smaller. If the problem is so small that you would not even remember it in a year from now, then really? Just push that stuff aside and work on things worthy of your life.
What problems will you be tackling when you die? Interesting question. What problems will you be known for solving, probably even a more important question.
Guy Reams
