(One of the many clusters of Maximilian sunflowers from my route.)
It was a beautiful day, Father, on so many fronts! It began with good times of worship at our churches and progressed into an enjoyable time with family. Please bless our time together. May I clearly hear Your words. Amen.
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I love finding things on my bus route! Over the last few days, I have seen these flowers blooming along the side of the road toward the end of my elementary route. They are brilliant yellow against a dark green background of foliage. I love their vibrancy but one other thing that drew my attention is that they seem to be reaching out, as I drive by – stretching themselves to grab my attention.
I’m pretty sure that they are Maximilian sunflowers. They looked like a few other flowers when I tried to look them up online – one being the Jerusalem artichoke! (Maximilian sunflowers are actually related to Jerusalem artichokes.) I understand that they are a prairie sunflower that is native to the American West. (Don’t ask me how they ended up in Ohio!) Another interesting fact is that where most sunflowers are annuals, which means that they live for only one year, these sunflowers are perennials, which means that they come back for many years from their roots (which are edible, by the way.)
Seeing these beautiful flowers made me think of how we as God’s children must be constantly reaching out to Him! He loves us and encourages us to stretch ourselves to get to Him. The thing is He is easy to get to, but I think the problem lies in the fact that we are much too comfortable staying back in the “foliage”, if you will. If we are to be the followers of Christ we cannot be content with staying where we are. We must always be yearning – doing everything we can – to reach out to Him in everything we do.
The other connection that needs to be stressed is that our relationship is not a one-time thing – we are not annuals. Where Maximilian sunflowers are by no means eternal, we are. God, in His grace and mercy, extends to us eternal life in Him – an eternal relationship with our Heavenly Father that we can only dream about! We know only a snippet of what eternity will be like and I believe the wonders and beauty of this world in all of their majesty, will pale in comparison to what God has in store for us! Amen!
“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.” ~ Jesus (John 3:16 AMP)
Sept 10th, 2023, Sun, 8:05 pm
