My birthday was this past Tuesday. I turned 26, which has significance because that’s the age my mom was when I was born. I am very similar to my mom in many ways; we look alike, act alike, have similar professional interests (special education). I even attended the same grad program and had some of the same professors as she did. So in turning 26 I’ve kind of evaluated my life partly in view of what my mom did at my age. I have two kids, she had one (so far). She was working, I am primarily at home. My parents lived in St. Louis, I live in the Northwest. I am seeing that this is a time of transition. I don’t really feel like the daughter, but I also don’t feel like the mom. It’s interesting to sit back and reflect on how cyclical life is and as Solomon put it, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Twenty or so years ago I’m sure my mom had the same revelations and perhaps compared her life to what her mom had done when she was in her twenties. In 20 or so years my daughters will probably compare their lives to mine at their age. And so on.

Eventually we will get forgotten. So many generations will pass and someday I’ll be the great-great-great-great-grandmother who lived hundreds of years prior and just be a name on a genealogy. That can seem depressing, but it’s true as Solomon says, “Everything is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

Of course we all matter. Jesus knows and cares for each of us, He is active in our lives and the great author of our life. But it doesn’t matter what I do by what age or how that compares to those who came before me. As long as it’s glorifying to God, whatever it is that he has me do, that’s all that will matter.