I know you must say...

...more flowers?

But, I'm obsessed right now.

I've waited so long to have a cutting garden in my backyard.

Now, it's starting to happen.

I am so thankful!

Flowers make everything more beautiful.

They are God's handiwork.

No man can make a flower,

can scent a rose,

can come up with the perfect, delicate colors of a petal.

Thanking Him today for these special gifts.

They always make me think of His loving ways with His people.

If you look closely you will see a blemish on one of the rich, green leaves.

It made me think of the sin in my life...

all of the things that make me so thankful for Jesus.

Because of the fall of Adam,

the very first man,

we are all polluted with sin at birth.

It is in our nature.

It is who we are.

It's kinda like we are in a huge, miry pit with no way out on our own.

Before the earth was set in place,

God knew our helpless state.

He took pity on us and provided a way of escape from that pit.

He decided then that He would send His Son to be the payment for our sin...

the way to be reconciled to Him,

the way to deal with that sin.

You see God is holy and cannot look upon sin.

There had to be a substitute.

There had to be a sacrificial Lamb.

I've been reading the first part of the Old Testament these last few weeks.

To take care of the sins of  the Israelites,

His chosen people,

God instituted the sacrifice of animals to atone for their sins.

It was a brutal, bloody and exhausting system,

but it was God's way,

 and that was how one's sins were forgiven.

Praise God, 

as was promised from the beginning,

in the fullness of time,

 Jesus, God's Son, 

came to the earth, 

 to accomplish salvation,

to shed His blood,

to die,

to be the sacrifice for the sins of mankind.

God was pleased 

and accepted Jesus' blood as payment in full for our sins.

No more animal sacrifices.

Jesus' death provided the one and only sacrifice that would ever be needed.

Jesus died for everyone.

This is for you and for me.

This is for everyone you know.

there are no exclusions.

It doesn't matter how bad you have been in your life,

how many dumb, crazy, stupid antics you have participated in.

It doesn't matter that you've waited this long to accept His free gift.

God sent Jesus to die for you.

He wants you to come to Him,

He wants to forgive you and give you the gift of eternal life and so much more.

How precious is our Savior Jesus Christ who did all of this for us.