So much change

This week, one of our daughters is moving house. In a few weeks, our other daughter is also moving. Around then too, our son is changing jobs, after thirteen years with the same employer. One recent morning, I heard of the death of a man from our old church. Then, just this past weekend, that same church held its final, formal service before joining with another nearby church. So much change everywhere, bringing deep sadness for some but joy and excitement for others as they look forward to new beginnings.

None of these changes has anything to do with my own life choices. Yet as I have watched on, listened and helped our where I could, they have caused me to feel unsettled myself, a little out of kilter somehow as if the ground is shifting under my feet. What is going on? Why has all this change occurred? With some of these, I never envisaged such decisions would be made or such events would unfold. Yet now, they have become reality – or will soon.

I am well aware that life is all about change. Things do not stay the same forever and, if we try to stop this change, we can easily find ourselves feeling frustrated, fearful and defensive – or perhaps even plain bored. At the same time, although we may be reluctant to admit it, we may begin to feel helpless and defeated.

Years ago, during a rather tumultuous time in my life, I came across a well-known prayer written by Teresa of Avila in sixteenth century Spain that begins this way:

Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes away except God.

Sometimes, the last two sentences are translated a little differently but they still contain the same powerful message:

Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away. God never changes.

I wonder if you find these words as reassuring as I do. Yes, things can often disturb and even frighten us, can’t they? We are human, after all – and we see in the gospels that even Jesus was upset and disturbed at times. But Jesus also knew his heavenly Father with whom he had been from the very beginning – and we have this same heavenly Father who will never change and will always be our all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving Lord and King.

I the Lord do not change. Malachi 3:6

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Jesus also warned that nothing in this world lasts forever and that we are not to rely on earthly riches which can pass away in a moment. Instead, we are to be rich in our relationship with God and know where our true security and destiny lie. We see this in the parable he told about the rich fool who decided to build bigger barns for his surplus grain and take life easy (Luke 12:13 – 21). Yet that very night, he died. What use then was all his wealth that he had relied on and kept to himself?

Things can change for us in a moment. Yet, through it all, we can stand firm as we fix our eyes on God who is eternally loving and utterly dependable.

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A legacy of words

Not long after my early novels were published, someone said to me: ‘What a wonderful legacy to leave behind for others!’ Such a thought had never occurred to me—I was so focused on the moment, wondering what my current market would be like. Anyway, if my books did survive for another generation, they would probably be tucked away in some dark corner, regarded as hopelessly old-fashioned and not worth reading.

But this week, this idea of touching a generation other than our own was brought home to me in two quite different ways.

The first occurred when I was researching some authors mentioned in my current non-fiction book. There was the English woman mystic, Julian of Norwich, who lived from around 1342 to 1416. At thirty years of age, she had a series of visions or ‘showings’ which she recorded soon after. Then, having reflected on them for twenty years, she wrote an expanded version called Revelations of Divine Love, which is still available and read today, along with many of her sayings such as ‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’ And there was also Teresa of Avila, a Spanish nun who lived a little later (1515 – 1582) and founded a Carmelite order. Her sayings are also often quoted, such as ‘Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes away except God’—or, as it is sometimes translated, ‘All things pass away; God never changes.’ Now in no way do I claim to be a Julian or a Teresa (!)—yet I was encouraged to see that all these centuries later, their words still speak to so many people.

And the second occurred on Australia Day, which was also my grandfather’s birthday. I remembered how he used to tell us grandchildren that the public holiday was really to commemorate his birthday! But I remembered other things too then—how my grandfather left each grandchild a special letter, written in his beautiful copperplate handwriting, urging us, among other things, to have faith in God. And I also remembered how I loved to sit on the floor near where he was reading and go through all the old things in a nearby cupboard on which a large bookcase rested. I was fascinated by the old hardcover books I found there—books like Tom Brown’s Schooldays, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and of course Lorna Doone. You see, R D Blackmore, the author of Lorna Doone, was my grandfather’s great-great-uncle! These books seemed so mysterious and almost other worldly—I can still remember their musty smell and how I would turn their pages almost reverently. They impacted me and no doubt fostered my love of books, even though I found them difficult to read at that age.

Yes, my books will get musty and crumble away too and no doubt end their days in some recycling bin. All things do pass away, except God, as Teresa of Avila wrote. And as Jesus himself declared:

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Matt 24:35)

Unlike mine, Jesus’ words will ring out down through eternity and will never lose their impact. But I like to think that one day some young girl will sit in front of a cupboard and find my old books there—and maybe even see in their pages something that draws her closer to her heavenly Father and touches her heart. What a privilege that would be!

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