As a young girl, I remember going with my family to visit my grandmother. She greeted my older brother and me with a hug, a big smile, and a plate of white sugar cookies. She wore a dark dress with black tie shoes and had her hair in a bun at the nape of her neck. As I look back, life seemed simple. But times change and people change.
When my mother was 19 (mid 1930’s), she left her home town on a Greyhound bus for the seventy-mile trip to Minneapolis. Alone. She worked as a maid for a well-to-do couple to pay for her business college degree. Although she felt homesick, she persevered to graduation. But times change and people change.
When I was 19 (early 1960’s), my girlfriend and I traveled by train for a two-week vacation in New York City. We were two naive girls that thought everyone was honest and trustworthy. But times change and people change.
When my daughter was 19 (late 1980’s), she entered a beauty contest and was crowned Miss Teen of Minnesota. She reveled in the glamor and excitement, but soon realized that was a facade for a superficial existence. But times change and people change.
When my granddaughter was about that age (early 2000), she jumped out of an airplane! Yup. She and one of my grandsons went skydiving for the sheer challenge of accomplishing something out of the ordinary. But times change and people change.
When my grandchildren visit me, they communicate with friends and with each other via text messages, although, they may be siting less than ten feet apart. I would like to tell them dinner is ready, but I don’t know how to send a group text. But times change and people change.
Five generations of changing times and people changing. With each generation, it seems we become our own generation losing a certain connectedness, and becoming more unique as times change and people change. Sometimes change can be unnerving, bewildering, and even overwhelming to many of us. That is one reason I am comforted by the fact that God does not change.
Psalm 102:27 says, “But You (speaking of God) are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.” Again, the Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) God is eternal and never changes. He does not change His mind; He does not change His love for each of us; He does not change the way to eternal life, and yet, His grace and mercy are new every morning. I love that about God!