Unchanging

I mentioned last week that I had been back to N.Ireland to visit family and friends. A couple of the people I met were friends from my previous church. We spent quite a long time catching up on each other’s news. I was horrified to learn that during Covid twenty-one members of the church had died. They held a memorial service for them once the church opened up again.

I found it difficult to take it in that all these folk whom I had worked closely with were no longer here. Someone said to me that we must make the most of our lives because we don’t know how long we’ll be here. This brought to mind a poem in my book by Nick Fawcett:

The Unchanging God.

So much in life, Lord, has shifted,

so much is different and strange;

everything somehow has drifted-

only your love does not change.

So much around me is fleeting,

here for a moment then gone;

Old Father Time brooks no cheating-

only your love carries on.

So much I loved, Lord, has vanished,

now just a memory or name;

into posterity banished-

only your love stays the same.

So much I think to be certain

proves in the end to be frail;

history brings down the curtain-

only your love will not fail.

Thank you, Lord, that you do not change and that you will always be there for us.