Pictures pictures pictures - stories stories stories. Jesus peppered his teaching with illustrations taken from the daily lives of his hearers. If they had had dogs and cats, rabbits and hamsters I'm sure there would have been stories about the escaping hamster or the disobedient dog. But I don't think they did - it was all sheep and shepherds as far as animals were concerned with the odd pig and sparrow thrown in for good measure!

But back in the Old Testament there were a few more animals. And in today's psalm the writer tells how all the animals in the wild, large and small tell us how wonderful God is. From the biggest elephant to the tiniest mouse their design shows us a lot about how God cares about the earth he has made.

They all look to God to give them their food when they need...