The crusader’s life gains purpose by subor[dinat]ing his heart and soul to a cause greater than himself; the traditionalist finds the transcendent by linking her life to traditions whose reach extend far past herself. This sort of transcendence is role and ritual based: the meaning it provides ties individuals not to a social cause but a social group. By participating in these sort of rituals, the traditionalist is assured of her place and purpose in a community of meaning. In fulfilling this role she joins a procession of the centuries—or barring that, a procession that at least stretches back before her life and continues on past it. “Advancing through life’s stations” (and the ritualized responsibilities that come with each) allows her to experience, for however short a time, something less contingent and selfish than the drives of every day life.[4] She joins the eternal round. By so doing she glimpses in the daily run something of eternity.

-thus T. Greer. From an astonishingly good essay that touches on transcendence, soldiers, missionaries, and country music, among other things.

In a way, the gospel squares the circle.  We are pushing ourselves into a new future and out into vast infinite vistas.  We have a Cause.  But we are doing so as part of a family narrative, a Father, a Son, his children, who He wants to raise until they can become Parents like Him.

Because everything we do is done under the view of God and the angels, with consequences that ripple forever, every decision is imbued with meaning.