Picture of the day - March 11, 2007

A Christmas Cactus In Bloom...Again!

Photo courtesy of Bob Cook. Cheria's Uncle Bob sent in this picture of their beautiful Christmas Cactus in bloom. Although they have had this amazing plant for several years, it didn't start blooming until a couple of years ago. But as you can tell from the photo, now that it does bloom it does it in a big way. This season it first burst into bloom around Christmas, and now as we approach Easter it has blossomed again! Now that I think about it, Uncle Bob's Christmas Cactus is an excellent symbol of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Jesus lived on the earth for 30 years before He began His earthly ministry, but once he got started he really "blossomed". It took Him just three short years to become the most influential minister and philosopher the world has ever known. Of course Jesus wasn't merely a minister and philosopher, He was God living on the earth in human form. Which brings us to His second spectacular blooming... The reason God sent His precious Son down to earth in the first place was to provide a way for our sins to be forgiven. Without a perfect sacrifice we humans would have been doomed to spend eternity in a literal hell, and Jesus Christ Himself was the only sacrifice that would suffice. So some 2,000 years ago He came down to live upon the earth by means of the only virgin birth in human history, and 30 years later He blossomed into the perfect shepherd who would soon be called upon to lay down His life for His sheep. Jesus willingly shed His precious blood on Calvary so that we might avoid the terrible fate that we rightfully deserved. After six agonizing, torturous hours upon the cross, He gave up the ghost and was laid to rest in a borrowed tomb. But then three days later He blossomed once again... After laying dead in the tomb for three days, Jesus arose from the grave - defeating hell and Satan once and for all. On Easter Sunday we will once again celebrate the day of Christ's miraculous resurrection, the most important single event in the history of the world. Uncle Bob's beautiful Christmas Cactus acquired its second set of blossoms just in time for Easter... a perfect reminder of the second "blooming" of our beloved Saviour!   "Picture of the Day" archives             Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"