Wisdom From Sunflowers… Hello weekend readers. As we wind down this week of our duty at the campground, we are already making a grocery list for next week! The top of the list—bird seed—especially the ones with ample sunflower seeds which are hard to find so we’ll get 40 pounds of sunflower seeds and mix it all up for our flitting and constantly-hungry avians.

This brings me to an article I read about sunflowers. Of course, in this area, sunflowers are top-dog because the great artist, Georgia O’Keefe painted them prolifically. And right now, our road-sides are filled with acres of sunflowers! New Mexico does produce sunflowers but the leader is North Dakota and other Great Plains northern states. This year North Dakota farmers grew 625,000 acres of sunflowers! Here’s a Fun Fact—sunflowers are also used to make products like nut-butter, cooking oil, confectionery seeds and of course—bird food.

Sunflowers bloom in late July and unfold throughout August. In North Dakota, fields of them blanket the state. The tourism bureau puts out free field maps for the hundreds of folks who flock to see and take pictures of what is called: yellow-heaven-on-earth!

Physician and poet Kayse Budd, understands the wisdom we can learn from the sunflower. “Graceful queen, standing tall, with a yellow crown. You show us all how to live, turned towards the light, use the body to feel which way is right.” Her medical knowledge will tell you the body’s need for ingredients from the sunflower, and its direction for us to turn to the light. For her, that light is Christ who tells us “Which way is right.”

There is much darkness in our societies all over the world. Depression, fear, anger, instability and wars—like Ukraine. Here’s a ‘sunflower wisdom’ regarding this war-torn nation: Ukraine is the LARGEST grower of sunflowers in the world and with their sunflowers and grain, they feed the world…until Russia crashed the world. It is dark-days indeed. But think again about the sunflower who always faces toward the light—what a ‘wisdom-tip’ for us when we feel shrouded in darkness and hopelessness.

Christianity has long embraced the wisdom of the sunflower, calling it spiritual knowledge and a worshiper’s devotion to seeking the ‘light of truth’—symbolizing faith and adoration for all that is, the true faith and loyalty to something that is much bigger and brighter than themselves. In fact, for Christians the sunflower is a symbol of God’s love because it relates to self-respect, which means being authentic and embracing your God-given individuality. And the idea of hope—well, sunflowers stand tall and call out to us to appreciate the great things, embrace and accept our differences while remaining positive. To follow our dreams and focus on the positive in your life and don’t let anyone get you down!

In Scripture, we first read that God created and designed everything—including sunflowers! In Genesis 1:29 God says: “Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” In James 1:17 we are reminded that: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” And one more lesson in Romans 1:20 emphasizes God’s incredible creative mind: “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” Just imagine such creativity—all done for you and me to sustain our lives, experience the joy of living, and the path we need to follow the light of Christ that leads us every day. What a gift indeed!

In closing, I want to share one other sunflower quote from Helen Keller. Although blind, God gave her mind the ability to ‘see’ that to this day no medical terms can even come close to defining such a thing! She wrote: “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. It’s what the sunflowers do.” Oh, the wisdom of this yellow beauty! So, let’s use its wisdom as our “benediction” from Number 6:24-26 [NIV] to end this devotion: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Now that is a huge AMEN!