Early this morning I walked out onto our deck, laptop in hand intending to get some work done before the day got started in earnest.  I didn’t get much work done.  It was in the mid 60s, there was a brisk breeze blowing through the trees and a few of the leaves, which have just started to change on a few of our trees, were gently fluttering to the ground, the early arrivers among the thousands of their brethren that will descend upon my backyard in the weeks to come.  How can you work when surrounded by such an awe-inspiring sight?

It has been a very hot, very dry summer in Atlanta, and we’ve all been looking forward to Fall with eager anticipation.  So yesterday morning when we stepped outside and for the first time in many weeks were greeted by cool, crisp air and a gentle breeze it put a smile on our faces.  This morning here on the deck it is even nicer.

Immediately the words to the second verse of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” came to mind:

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

I love this old hymn.  I’ve sung it in small country churches with self taught piano players who did the “oom-pah, oom-pah” thing with their left hand.  I’ve sung it in majestic houses of worship with the pipe organ opened up so much you can feel the 16′ Bourdons rattling the floor.  I’ve sung it with 10,000 college students and felt an awesome sense of God’s presence inhabiting their praise as they lifted up an old song in a new way.  And I’ve sung it with my voice breaking and tears streaming down my face at the homegoing service of a close, dear friend. 

Many different settings, same timeless truth: Everything around us is constantly changing, but God never changes. His love, his mercy and His faithfulness are the solid foundation we can build our lives upon.

People change.  Circumstances change.  Styles change.  Culture changes. Institutions change.  God never does.  He is the only constant in our lives.

As I sat here writing these words, I’ve been surrounded by beauty, elegance, and wonders that bear, in the words of the song, manifold (diverse, numerous and varied) witness to God’s great faithfulness, mercy and love.  The wind blew briskly through the trees, leaves fluttered to the ground, and a beautiful green hummingbird lit on our feeder not three feet from me.  It’s moments like this that you cannot help but join with creation in praise and thanksgiving to our mighty, awesome, creative, and unchanging Heavenly Father:

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not, as Thou hast been, Thou forever will be
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand has provided! Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!