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I recently visited the farm where I was raised and was reminded again that change is inevitable. Displayed there is a sign honouring it as a "Centennial Farm", meaning that it has been in our family for 100 years.
In 1925, my parents married and moved into a newly built home down the hill from the original house. I remember the novelty when electricity came to the farm, and the convenience of the blacktop road instead of deep mud ruts.
Eventually, my sister and her husband bought the farm. One day, high winds were too much for the huge twin basswood trees; as one fell, it detached the enclosed porch from the house. A major, beautiful remodelling and new landscaping resulted.
Over the years, the apple orchard and other trees disappeared, and one day the silo was no match for a 90-mile-per-hour wind.
Even the hills where my sisters and I enjoyed winter sports seem to have shrunk!
The biggest change of all is the empty space where my grandma and grandpa's house once stood. Although it was run down and hazardous, it seemed like it belonged there forever.
Over the years, things that are familiar to us alter. Even this earth is not permanent. Friendships vary, and family attachments do not always endure. Changes can cause us to lose a sense of security and belonging.
It is wonderful to know God, who remains the same. The Bible speaks in many places of the unchanging nature of God. Psalm 102:27 says to God: "You remain the same, and Your years will never end." Psalm 33:11 states, "The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations." James 1:17 affirms, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change." This wonderful, unchanging God has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ, who "is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). When we accept Him personally, He becomes our stabilizer, the One in whom we feel secure.
Alena Stutsman is a freelance writer from Stanwood, Wash.
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