The Pastor’s Blog – SOMETHING OLD …
In 1889 William (John) Blair, architect of the famous Beacon Hill Park in Victoria, built a stone bridge to go over the man made lake in the park. It was designed like a medieval bridge of stone and mortar and has graced the park ever since. Today it is very popular for wedding pictures and tourist photos – like mine!
All around the bridge there are trees and shrubs and flowers, each beautiful in its own way. My most recent visit was in March, before most of the trees and shrubs had budded, and before the flowers displayed their colours. A new growing season was just beginning, and life was just starting to be seen throughout the park.
I think it was the idea of the transitory nature of life that drew me to that bridge. As I looked around the park, I wondered how many of the trees were there when that bridge was built? I know that the bushes would have been replaced several times over during the past one hundred and thirty years, and most of the flowers were planted fresh each year. As beautiful as that garden was, its beauty was fleeting. It took constant care to keep the garden full of life. Even as we walked through the park there were city workers planting new flowers for a new a season.
Except for a few old trees, few things in the park were as old as the bridge. Most things came and went with the seasons. Yes, even the man who built the bridge in 1889 was long gone and almost forgotten.
I am glad there are a few things in life that last, which can be counted on to be there season after season after season. One of those things is God’s Word:
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)
The second thing is God Himself:
“Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:2)
In the midst of all the change and turmoil around us, hold on to something that will last: God. He will outlast that old bridge and will always be there to hold us up.
– Pastor Gary