Lessons From Sunflowers: Part II

June 11, 2022

Lessons From Sunflowers: Part II

Sunflower Worshiping, 2022

Watercolor & watercolor pencil

18” x 24”

The pencil drawing of the sunflower wintered over in my room next to my bed. Like the other real plants in the garden it sat dormant, waiting for the warmth of the spring sun. I thought about a lot of things as the unfinished drawing slept next to my bed. The winters are harsh here and sometimes it’s hard to fathom that summer ever really happened. The sunflower was proof that it did. My half finished drawing was evidence that yes, once upon a time it was warm; so warm that things could live, and grow, and you could even draw outside!

It was during the cold of those gray snowy days that my thoughts drifted to my friend, Ginger, and her garden. Ginger has a SPECTACULAR garden despite the fact that she lives in the desert. No joke, it looks like something out of a magazine. People will literally stop their cars as they drive by just to admire her plants. I used to love spending time with my friend in her garden. I could (and did) spend hours chatting with her amongst the flowers.

Ginger’s plants are undeniably special. She once grew two tomato plants that were almost as big as my car! And what did she attribute this supernatural growth to? Good old fashioned compost and the power of prayer. You see, Ginger’s garden is where she does most of her talking to God. Even the simple chore of pulling weeds was an opportunity to visit with the Lord, in Ginger’s mind. And why would the two tasks be mutually exclusive? The first job God ever gave humans was working in a garden where He would often talk with them (Genesis 2:15).

I smiled as I remembered my sweet friend and our garden visits. One specific memory floated to the surface of my thoughts as I pondered. We were strolling through her garden and she was introducing me to all the new plants of the season. Ginger paused and directed my attention to a group of sunflowers and giggled. “Did you know that sunflowers will turn their heads to follow the sun all day long?” she asked me. “Yep,” she continued in a very mater of fact tone, "that’s just how they worship.”

I remember thinking how cool that was. These beautiful flowers made sure to stay looking to God all day long. Even though sunflowers have their feet anchored in the dirt, they still managed to rotate themselves so that they might always remain facing His light! How cool is that? Sunflowers also mimic the sun in the shape of their flowers, like mini sunshines. Perhaps it is their continual communion with sun which allows them to emulate its appearance. We too can be conformed to the image of The Son if we continually seek to be in the light of God’s presence. Regular communion with God (through worship, prayer, and meditating on His Word) transforms us and allows us to exude the characteristics of Jesus in our own lives. These ideas were fascinating all on their own but I was also blown away by the concept that flowers worshiped. As strange as it sounds, there are Scriptural examples of plants worshiping the Lord. Take Psalm 96, “Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord…” (Psalm 96:12-13 NIV). The imagery in Psalm 96 is beautiful for sure but how often do we consider it literally? Can plants actually worship?! And if so, what does that look like?

The first week of April brought back our sunshine. I enthusiastically drug my easel outside and resumed work on the sunflower. It felt so good to enjoy the blue sky and draw in the fresh air.

I wish I could say that that was the end of the story, and boom the drawing was done but there were many more trial and tests of patience before this piece would be complete. There were more storms; rain storms, wind storms, and even more snow storms! Once again I was left to hurry up and wait. There were other days and other impediments that were not meteorological. Case in point, I ran out of my favorite leaf green pencils and, what do you know, the pencils are produced in Germany! I bought three. After I clicked confirm, the verification screen read: “your item will arrive in seven to ten business days, thank you for your purchase.” All my mind could hear was “your painting will continue to wait for seven to ten more days while we hold your pencils hostage.” When the highly anticipated package finally arrived I was overjoyed and ran through the house, waving it above my head like a victory flag. I resumed work once again. I wanted so badly to race to the end of my drawing but the Holy Spirit gently instructed me to slow down. Just as in the beginning, He told me to put my hands in my pockets and step back so as not to get sloppy and destroy everything I had patiently worked so hard for.

Throughout this cycle of working and waiting I continued to ponder Ginger’s comment: “that’s just how they worship.” I thought about the lessons we can learn from sunflowers. How we too should be sure to orient ourselves to always be facing God, not just once in a while but continuously throughout the day. We should be desirous of the warmth of His presence that we experience through the act of worship and long to bask in it all day. And why not? It feels good to raise your hands and lift up your face as you lift up your song to the Lord!

I once heard it preached that when we raise our hands to God, He reaches down from Heaven and makes up the distance. This action is similar to the way a young child will reach up to their parent as a sign that they wish to be held. Worship is a beautiful way of connecting with God and declaring His goodness and it is a powerful weapon against the works of the Enemy. The turning that sunflowers do is significant. The Hebrew word for repent literally means to “turn away from.” It is imperative that we turn from the darkness of our sins, not just once at the time of our salvation, but that we keep turning and realigning ourselves to point in God’s direction. Man, those sunflowers sure had a lot of deep thoughts to share! All this pondering also caused me to consider how I worship the Lord. I love listening to music while I commune with God and I wondered what kind of music sunflowers would sing if they could. I surmised, as I painted the bright lemon yellow of the petals, that they must like Gospel music. The colors of a sunflower feel like Gospel - a loud joyful celebration to the Lord. I then extrapolated that a group of sunflowers (like the ones in Michelle or Ginger’s garden) must sound like the boisterous harmony of a Gospel choir singing “Joyful, joyful, Lord we adore thee!” I decided to join them and pulled up a Gospel music playlist on YouTube. Then, I turned my face to the sun and smiled.