HAVE you noticed the hanging baskets in the centre of Keighley, or perhaps the roundabouts by Cliffe Castle and adjacent to High Street - they are full of colourful plants brightening the town, whether we are walking around the town or driving through in a car.

Each plant has been grown from a tiny seed or a cutting; the young plants have been tended by skilled people and have come to maturity - a thing of beauty.

Trained staff have blended together the various colours to give harmony and balance.

However, without the original plants, which God created, the gardeners would have nothing to sow or to root from cuttings.

Without the colours which God has given us we would have nothing to blend - if everything was monotone the world would be a very dull place.

But many of us travel beyond Keighley, out into the Dales.

Perhaps we might visit Pateley Bridge or Ilkley Moor; some may even search for sunshine on the continent of Europe or beyond, but in every area not only will we see flowers, but we will see trees and shrubs, animals and birds.

We will hear the rustle of the wind in the trees, the cascading of the waterfall, the individual sounds of the various animals. God's creative powers are vast, beyond our comprehension, but there for us to enjoy at no cost. A modern hymn writer starts one of her hymns:

Think of a world without any flowers, think of a world without any trees! Can we respond, as the hymn writer does 'Thank you, Lord, for flowers and trees and sunshine, thank you Lord and Praise your Holy name'.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.