Is Faithfulness Old?

 My husband and I recently returned from Yellowstone. We lined up with hundreds of spectators from all over the world to witness the wonder of Old Faithful. We watched our clocks, vied for position; the tension mounted as eruption time neared. Finally it came. We all did our best to capture the spectacular in pictures and videos.

We craned our necks, stood on benches to get a better view, and focused on the geyser of boiling water. The fountain turned to steam in the cold, and rose ever-higher into the blue Wyoming sky. I was captivated by the power of God on display in the natural world.

But as soon as it ended I heard murmuring.

“I don’t know. I guess I expected more,” one woman said as she and her husband walked slowly on.

A little farther over, a man told his friends who arrived too late, “Yeah, we watched the last one, then went and grabbed some lunch and came back for the one this hour. You can catch it next time around.” As if it was the late show on a cruise ship! I was amazed how blasé some people were about what we had just witnessed.

This natural phenomenon occurs so consistently—every 45-125 minutes—that they named it Old Faithful. Does that cheapen the miracle? When faithfulness becomes the norm, do we appreciate it less?

What does faithfulness mean to you? To me faithfulness is something or someone you can count on. Faithful people are steady, committed, and don’t let momentary feelings sway them from what they said they would do. Too often, we take this constancy for granted, even sneer at the predictability of their ways. Why?

Don’t we want faithful husbands and wives? Cars and appliances that operate consistently? Who doesn’t want to hire loyal employees who show up on time for work every day? And wouldn’t you like to have reliable government representatives in office who serve with integrity?

Yet, often faithfulness is treated like a thing of the past; a quaint custom of bygone years. Faithful church attendance is viewed as dull and excessive. Many think a lifetime commitment to one spouse and sex partner is boring and prudish. Our society is riddled with job hopping, wife swapping, couch flopping, church shopping individuals. Is it progress to glamorize infidelity  and justify being undependable in a quest for self-discovery and diversity?

Nobody lines up to witness me reading the Bible every morning, or whether I exercise, take care of our home, or write. They might even find my routine boring in its sameness. My same husband comes home every day and we go to the same church every Sunday to worship the same God, who never changes. But that’s what makes it all so beautiful.

The old hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” says there’s “no shadow of turning with Thee.” We don’t have to chase shadows to find God on the landscape of our world; He is constant and dependable. God doesn’t check out or get distracted. God is ancient, that’s for sure, but not outdated.

Our faithfulness can build up over time and leave a legacy. The mound in this photo came from minerals deposited by repeated eruptions from a once active geyser. To me this stone is like a monument to faithfulness. And that’s the kind of legacy I want to leave.

Is faithfulness old? You bet it is. But it is rock solid and only grows more precious over time.

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