Biblically, you read in Ecclesiastes that everything is “meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless” which is a poor translation. The word in Hebrew is Hebel, which translates into “mist” or “vapor” or “mere breath,” which is to say something that is fleeting or elusive. Life is, per Ecclesiastes, hebel itself but also filled with things that are hebel — career, wealth, pleasure, success. The whole book is about how life is this thing that is here today and gone tomorrow, and all the things that are hebel are lost to (1) time or (2) death. But then the author says we can actually accept the hebel-ness, and when we do, we can accept the gifts from God — friends & family, food & joy, the sun, the work we have been allowed to do, the enjoyment of said work!
As I age, there’s something so healthy about unpacking the book that was used to sway me as a child, and instead find so much wisdom in it. In 2025 I am going to try to accept that life is fragile, fleeting and hard to understand, and I’m going to learn to enjoy the “gifts” before me instead of wasting the time I have here on trying to build or create things that will be lost to time or death.