Granddad

Can you imagine it?  “What are you thinking about, granddad?”  “Things before you were born, my dear ... things before your mother was born!”  Grandfather is looking back down the years, to a time perhaps fifty years ago, when he was at school, or perhaps in his teens or twenties.  Maybe he even remembers in his own childhood asking his grandfather the same thing, and getting a similar response. 

This whole subject fascinates me, and I sometimes wonder about how far back just a few generations can take us.  If my grandparents in their childhood had asked about their grandparents’ early memories, the answers would have brought to mind days of great change: the days of the 1820’s and -30’s, when a number of famous Acts of Parliament introduced Catholic emancipation, electoral reform and a broadening of the way that the poor were relieved.  In fact, two of my great-great-grandfathers would have remembered, at the age of 16, news of the battle of Waterloo!

How different life would have been in those days, just three life-times away!  It’s thoughts like this that call to mind the fact that life itself is composed of changes, be they big or small.  Look for instance at the dramatic advances in communication media over just the last five years – or the fashions of a few years ago and how out of place they’d seem today.  This month many will be watching the FA Cup Final; you probably know that a regular part of the preliminaries to this annual event is the singing of that famous hymn, Abide with me.  Do you remember the words of the second verse?  “Change and decay in all around I see: O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”

Are there people whose mood seems to change like the weather; people on whom you can’t depend, with whom you have to spend a while in silence, waiting to know just how to address them today?  Such people carry uncertainty with them, like a cloud, and if your circumstances mean that you are frequently in their company, life itself can become quite unbearable.  How refreshing it is that our God is just the opposite.  As Francis Lyte reminded us in that hymn, God never changes.  And we don’t just have to take his word for it.  Our Bibles tell us of “the Father of the heavenly lights, who doesn’t change like shifting shadows” (Jas. 1:17), and this echoes other verses, like “I say my purpose will stand; I will do all that I please” (Is. 46:10), “I, the Lord, do not change.” (Mal. 3:6) and “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.” (Rom. 11:29).

We have just celebrated Easter, and the gift of salvation marked by Jesus’ death on the Cross and His Resurrection.  Isn’t this evidence enough of God standing by his promises, doing what he pleases, never changing?  Next time you see grandparents and grandchildren together, imagine their conversation.  Consider the vast range of their experiences: the changes that they have seen, and that will take place over their collective lifetimes, and reflect on the eternal, unchanging nature of our Lord.