Today I felt the awesome wonder of every single second of Jesus's life on earth from conception in Mother Mary's womb to His death on the cross, having been devoted to humankind, to give us eternal life. Our physical body perishes but our soul, comprising our mind emotions and will, is what decides to receive Jesus or not. When we do, our deep inner spirit connects to God's Holy Spirit for eternity, with our body being transformed into a different matter at our earthly death - inexplicable for now. To the extent we allow it, there is a process of change in us as soon as we receive Jesus whereby our mind, emotions and will, learn to align with that of God's because His Holy Spirit living in us transforms us. There are so many bible verses that tell us that Jesus indwells us when we invite Him into our lives. Here is one such verse: "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:16-17).

I saw an evergreen Christmas tree gradually declining and losing its needles. The link between the word Christmas and Christ is overlooked by many these days. An evegreen will inevitably die. In comparison, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, do you believe that He came to deliver us from our sins and inevitable death so that we can live on into eternity? Do you believe that He came just to give us good principles and morals to follow whilst we are alive here on this earth?

Today I saw the upturned front of a snow ski. The design of skis, such as of the side cut and camber, has a significant impact on the safety and potential speed of a pair of skis. We can trust in the design of a pair of skis through personal experience in their use, and in their reputation, without needing an understanding of engineering, science and terminology behind its design. Similarly, we do not need to understand how God is our Father, how Jesus Christ His Son came down to earth to save us and how the Holy Spirit can indwell us. If we trust and talk to our Father, accept His Son Jesus and invite the Holy Spirit we will find our for ourselves that it is true. It can only be through your own personal relationship, no one else's.

Today I saw a curtain rail with strategically and correctly placed hooks which the curtain also has to be carefully hooked on to, to get the right pleated effect. This is representative of certain things in life which have to start off right to get the required result. First of all we need to see God as our loving father, rather than as a distant, nebulous being of the universe or as a harsh punishing entity. Then we can see Him giving mankind His only begotten son Jesus to save us from ourselves, as none of us is perfect, and to save us from others. Once we do that, everything will fall into place, as does a curtain when hung properly. In 2 Corinthians 6:16b-18 we read, "For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, 'I will live with them, and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.' Therefore, 'Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you.' And, 'I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." If you haven't done it yet, make that first step of approaching God as your loving father, whatever other preconceived ideas you may have.

As with many of the Daily Picture devotionals, I often get sequels to messages. Yesterday I heard an ardent young follower of Christ affirming what I said about the need to wholly bring ourselves to God Who sees and hears all we do and say anyway. On many occasions in the bible we are told that there is going to be an ultimate judgement seat (see, for instance, 2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelations 20:12; Matthew 12:36). As the young man said, "Come clean before the King ...what you confess, Jesus will cover, but what you try to cover, Jesus will uncover." Don't desist from bringing everything in to the light of Jesus, for Him to change us. The moment we receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour all our sin is taken from us so there is nothing to fear at the Judgement Seat. However, the process of admitting our sin, as we learn to recognise it (as not all is obvious to us at first), and the resultant change, indicates we have faith in Jesus. If we are not in the process of change, do we actually have faith in Jesus and how He has saved us from our sin? "And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ".(Philippians 1:6). Let Him change us as it is for our absolute good. Left to our own devices we are left with our sin.

Today I saw a face mask starting to melt, like it was made of wax. Any one of us can be guilty of metaphorically putting on a mask to disguise our true selves from others or to avoid admitting the truth to ourselves. Jesus wants us to get rid of this "mask" and be who we are in front of Him. God cannot change us unless we admit that we need changing and want to change. 2 Corinthians 3:16-17 tells us, "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom". I am sure we can honestly say that it is wonderfully freeing to be completely ourselves with another person, 'warts and all'. Being completely open with God will release us from so much that binds us.

Today I heard the words that being humble does not mean we need to stoop. Yes, we can bow to God as Jesus exemplified in his praying to his Father but that does not mean stooping in a dejected and debased way. We bow because we acknowledge the supremacy of the person we are bowing to. Even in our humility we can stand erect to our full height, acknowledging both our limitations and our strengths, thanking God for who we are. Whilst on earth Jesus never said, 'Woe is me. I am a worthless man". Neither need we. As sinners we are unworthy of being in God's presence but we are not worthless. We are all precious to God; His Son Jesus takes us into His presence.

Today I saw a picture of straw, that is the dry hollow stalks of cereal plants after harvesting, not to be confused with hay which still has seeds and leaves. I also saw a poppy growing up through the straw, bringing to mind poppy straw from which opium can be derived as an emotional and physical pain killer for a limited time. This can be an addictive and abused narcotic. The empty straw and the potentially helpful, but temporary, opium which can also be tragically abused, is in direct contrast to God's healing. God's ultimate healing will not be temporary and it will be perfect. Revelations 21:4 tells us, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away".

We were reminded on Saturday that to do the works of God we are to believe in Jesus. (John 6:28-29). We are not saved from our sins because of what we do but when we have faith in Jesus it impacts what we do and becomes evident to others. We show Jesus praise and gratitude as well as want to draw others to Him. If there aren't these changes in our life, we should question whether we really believe in Jesus saving us. James 2:17-18 "...Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say ,'you have faith; I have deeds'. Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith *by*. my deeds".

Today I saw Love encapsulated in a white heart-shaped image of Joseph, Mary and little boy Jesus. They were a family devoted to God, with Mary having immediately agreed to follow God's will of bearing and raising littleJesus. Joseph, similarly was perfectly willing to obey God's Will and marry Mary who would be pregnant with the Holy Spirit's baby. Meanwhile, Jesus temporarily relinquished his divinity to be a defenceless baby, dependent on his earthly parents' upbringing. (See Philippians 2:6-7). They were a poor family. They had to hide in Egypt, soon after Jesus had been born in a cattle stable, as Herod had ordered the massacre of newborn baby boys. When that threat was over, they lived in Nazareth in frugal conditions with Joseph as a carpenter. God is Love and with this holy family's example, we can see that God's love is not manifested in material objects and perfect circumstances. In fact, when Jesus sent his disciples out to proclaim God's Kingdom, they had very few possessions. "Do not get any gold, silver or copper to take with you in your belts - nor bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep"

(Matthew 10:9-10). In other words they will automatically find that they are paid appropriate wages according to the work they do. Remember, the work of God is to believe in Him who He has sent - Jesus! As His expression of love, God wants to give us "daily bread", which is the provision of exactly what we need each day. Ths is not the accumulation of possessions and perfect conditions.

Today I saw a clean looking, translucent scar, which I believe is an important reminder that when God heals us, whether it be physical or emotional, He does not leave us with negative impacts. We have the scars of reminders of what we have been through but, above all, we have the reminder of God's loving and complete healing. "But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds', declares the LORD" (Jeremiah 30:17).

Today I saw the tail of an animal, being the last of its passing form. I believe that this is a sombre reminder that during our time on earth we have the opportunity to use our soul (mind, emotion and will) to choose to connect to God forever. Let's not let this opportunity of securing eternal life pass us by, especially as none of us knows when our time on earth is up. "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life!" (John 5:39-40). Beware of knowing the truth about Jesus Christ, and even believing it, but never receiving Him as your Lord and Saviour. You don't know when your time is up.

Today I saw a picture of a rooster crowing, reminding me of Peter assuring Jesus that he would always be by his side supporting Him. Jesus warned him that he would deny him three times before the rooster crowed that very night/dawn. This is, significantly, mentioned in all 4 gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. After Jesus's arrest, out of fear, Peter did indeed deny knowing Jesus, for which he wept bitterly as soon as he heard the rooster crow and realised Jesus had been right. As He did with Peter, Jesus knows and understands our frailties. After His death and resurrection Jesus met Peter again on the shore of the sea of Galilee, when Peter was out fishing, and lovingly gave him the opportunity to redeem himself three times (See John 21). Roosters not only crow to announce the start of the day, but also to declare their territory, to attract hens with their vitality, to alert the flock of potential dangers, to gather and lead the flock to food and even to celebrate the laying of an egg. How much more can we declare at the start of each day that the creator of the rooster, Jesus, reigns supreme in our lives as our life giver, leading us, protecting us and rejoicing over us.

Today I feel it is a sequel to Saturday's message of our physical brain being separate from our soul (representing our mind, emotions and will) and our spirit (which we can choose with our soul to be directly connected to God into eternity.) Our soul thirsts to drink the living waters that Jesus said only He can provide (see John 4) and King David described this so eloquently in Psalm 42:1 "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God". What I remind ourselves time and time again is that "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7).

Today I saw an image of a brain, prompting me to reflect on the division of our body, soul and spirit. Sometimes the words "spirit", "soul" (and "heart ") are used interchangeably but, essentially, our spirit is what connects to God's Holy Spirit in purity and goes on into eternity even when our time on earth is over. Our soul is our Mind, Emotions and Will which we can align with God or not. I have known people who love God dearly but their brains stopped functioning lucidly because of dementia, injury etc. However, despite their physical limitations, I witnessed their connection with God as still being so real. Similarly, when we depart this earth, if we have this connection with God, our spirit will remain with Him into eternity. My suggestion is that we don't just use our brain and logical thinking to decide on God's existence and whether we want our spirit connected to Him, but to dig deeper into soul and spirit now, whilst we can. Romans 12:2 (New Living Translation) tells us, "Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect".

Today is an extension to yesterday's message of waiting on, and obeying the Lord's Will to satisfy us and give us pleasure, rather than us focussing on instant gratification regardless of God. I heard a punchline in a movie last night of "Forever is composed of nows". In a way, that tallies with that same message of remaining constantly in God's Will, second by second, now by now so to speak; in God's Kingdom, where we follow Him constantly, we are lead towards eternal life. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:23). When we sin, it means we are doing what we want with things which are not what God wants. Though note that, as we spend time with God and trust what Jesus did for us, we get aligned with His Will and our desires become increasingly what He wants for us. What are we doing with our "nows"? Are we immediately gratifying ourselves with what we think are good things, but completely disregarding God? Or are we giving our "nows" to God for Him to bless us, satisfy us and give us pleasure in His perfect timing?

I saw an advertisement along the lines of "If you want it now you can have it now!" This is the psychology of the present time to expect to receive what we want immediately. In my childhood days we would often have to wait a week before we could see the sequel to an exciting show we were watching. Nowadays, we have the other extreme of being able to binge watch. This desire to be instantly gratified is taken advantage of by special offers to the consumers, air fares increasing as soon as we express interest etc. However, Jesus exemplifies and teaches us to be patient and wait for God's Will and timing. He came to earth as a baby, initially wholly reliant on human care, and being fully human with all our feelings of sadness, hunger and pain etc, ready to die for us as a young man of 33 years old, in order to save mankind. His Will was to completely adhere to His Father's Will and not His own desires. Do we stop and say, 'What do you want of me God?' or do we say, 'Let's do this now because it will give me pleasure right now'.

Today I am reminded of the verse in the Old Testament's Song of Soloman 2:15 "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom". This is warning us that what is precious in our lives can be slowly and subtly destroyed by seemingly insignificant, but consistently effective, destroyers of what we are developing such as of relationships, a job, a project etc. With this analogy we can think of big foxes overtly eating the grapes which are the fruit of the harvest, but it is the little foxes, who can't reach the grapes, which will inevitably nibble away at the roots of the vine so destroying everything and not just the fruit. The Song of Soloman describes romantic love and we can equate this with Jesus as our bridegroom. Do we have 'little foxes' in our life which are gnawing away at our potential time with Jesus and the resultant wonderful fruit?

In the last 24 hours I "happened" to have heard the Gospel (that is, good news) a couple of times, reminding me as to how amazingly wonderful the news is. Contrary to other religious beliefs in which we aspire to get to God by improving ourselves, Christians rejoice in God coming down to all humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. "For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me" (John 6:38). God's will is to save us and take away the sin that hinders us from having eternal life. We need to be constantly reminded of this good news to prevent us berating ourselves for not aspiring high enough. It is not about us achieving heights of success but God coming down to help us because we can't succeed on our own. We have the maybe most often quoted bible verse of John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life". The original Greek for "begotten" is 'monogenes' meaning one of a kind, unique. We are created sons and daughters of our Father God but begotten son Jesus was not created but is of the same divine being and essence of eternal God/Love.

Yesterday and today I have been meditating on the words describing God in Acts 17:27b-28a "He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being ...". God is near us in the beautiful nature around us and in those times of love we experience because God is love, as disciple John reminds us in his gospel chapter 4 verse 8 and in his letter chapter 4 verse 16. John was able to declare that Jesus loved Him because he knew that Jesus is Love so to Love is His constant default. Jesus is the expression and example of God and all He ever did was to exude love, even in the times of uncomfortable Truths. God's Kingdom is one of giving which actually implies that when we are there giving, we are actually receiving from all those around us who are automatically giving too. Where else would you rather be than a place of constant love?