One of the most beautiful passages in Lucretius, the Roman poet, captures the joy of a father bending down as his children race each other to jump into his arms. One of the oldest pieces of evidence of humans in America, as we’ve talked about, are the footprints of a parent walking in what is now White Sands National Park, carrying and then setting down, carrying and then setting down, carrying and then setting down, a young child.

This thing we’re doing, our crazy, chaotic daily existence–the one filled with joy and difficulty, love and labor–it’s a timeless one. The ancient world was unfathomably different than our lives today…and yet somehow it was also exactly the same.

Parents were worrying about their kids. Parents were playing games with their kids. Parents were making plans for their kids. Parents were trying to model for and encourage their kids. The same stuff you’re doing, they were doing and it’s the same thing people are going to be doing fifty generations from now.

We are in touch with eternity on a daily basis and we don’t even realize it. We are a part of something timeless and eternal, something very small and very large at the same time. This should humble and inspire us. It should give us purpose…and perspective.

What you’re doing is important. You are important. You are everyone and no one.

You are a parent. You are every parent who has and ever will live. We are in this together.