Sunflowers

Last week, in science, the boys and I were learning about plants and flowers. I have done this very lesson more than once in the past with my other children...but I was struck, anew, with one particular flower....the sunflower. In fact, it's officially my favorite flower (although gerber daisies take a really close second!:)). If you remember anything from school (which I clearly didn't), or if you happen to love flowers and gardening (which appears to be a bit low on my list, too)...you probably already know where I am going with this...

Did you know that (most) sunflowers actually follow the sun?! Guess that is how they go their name!:) I got to thinking about how much we should desire to be like sunflowers....that in each moment of each day our faces are turned upwards, following our Saviour.

Sonfollowers.

How many times do we spend all of our time looking around us, trying to make sense of the "mess", placing our hope in people and things that will let us down...instead of fixing our gaze on the One who always accomplishes His purposes, Who never changes, Who is faithful and true, Who gives hope that will never disappoint?! A lack of joy and hope is a sure sign that our gaze has shifted...that we have become people followers instead of a follower of the Son of God!

I couldn't help but think of the days, though, when it's cloudy out. You know the sun is still shining behind the clouds but you can't see it...and all seems grey. What does the sunflower do then? It keeps following the sun! It stays on it's same course day after day regardless of the weather all around it.

Oh that we would do the same...that we would follow Jesus even when He seems hidden by the stormy clouds of life. That we would "walk by faith" even when we cannot see. And, as the sunflower bears the name of the "one" whom it follows, may we clearly show forth in our words and actions that we, too, bear the name of the One in whom we follow!

If you find yourself struggling to "look up", Girltalk had some great words of encouragement yesterday:

"3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!." (Psalm 37:3-7)

One thing above all has enabled me to dwell at peace in the midst of this trial: looking to the Lord alone, focusing “the eyes of my heart” deliberately and entirely upon God and His sovereignty, wisdom, and love.

“Look up!" exhorts Derek Kidner in his commentary on Psalm 37:

"An obsession with enemies and rivals cannot be simply switched off, but it can be ousted by a new focus of attention; note the preoccupation with the Lord Himself, expressed in the four phrases that contain His name here. It includes a deliberate redirection of one’s emotions (4a, take delight), and an entrusting of one’s career (your way, 5) and reputation (your vindication, 6) to Him. This is a liberation.”

True liberation from our troubles is achieved when we follow the steps laid out for us in Psalm 37, when we deliberately redirect our emotions to delight in the Lord and entrust our reputation and our future entirely to Him. Our preoccupation with our enemies can only be ousted by a new preoccupation: the glory and the goodness of God.

As I have sought to fill my mind--through Scripture, sermons, and songs--with thoughts of the Lord and who He is and what He has done and what He promises to do, I have been able to experience freedom, peace, and even joy in the midst of this most difficult trial. It doesn't mean the pain or difficulty is removed, but that is not the focus of my attention. It is the Lord. To Him will I look.