Facing the sun

 

A song begins: The most beautiful time of the whole year, that is springtime, when the heart is so wonderfully rejoiced by nature.

Flowering trees, colourful meadows, lush green. The leaves and grasses and much more.

1. The sunflower is the sun queen among flowers

Their formation: 1-3 seeds are placed in the soil. They need water and heat. The seeds split and the seedlings grow. Their size grows up to 3 meters tall and more. The large inflorescence is called the flower basket.

The special feature

• The sunflower seeds are arranged in spirals, turning to the right and left
• Mood enhancer: The chrome yellow colour has a beneficial effect.
• Multiple uses: sunflower oil, bird seed and among others for decorations.

The miracle of beauty

How can such a thin structure, stem, effortlessly bear such huge flowers? Sunflower stems contain auxins, substances that give them special strength and stability.

Wonders of architecture

• How is it that the heads of the sunflowers turn?
• Sunflowers do not have a single muscle fiber, yet they turn their heads every day to follow the sun.
• Sophisticated: The plants change the length of their stem.
• Millimeter by millimeter, the sunflower pushes its head up on the west side at night – until it folds east, where the sun rises in the morning.
• During the day it is the other way around.
• It can thus absorb 15 percent more energy than "stubborn" plants.

Unforgettable: I stood in front of a field with hundreds of sunflowers. Their heads were all aligned in one direction. A beautiful picture of nature.

2. Man vs. Sunflower

Seed

Without seeds, there is no life. Just as the seed of the sunflower is placed in the earth, the divine seed is received into the heart of man through listening, believing, and receiving.

The divine seed is the Word of God.

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.
1 Peter:22 (ESV)

Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
1 Peter 1:23 (ESV)

Stability

Our stability to remain steadfast is through God's power.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. 

2  Peter 1:3 (ESV)

Growth

For our growth in faith, we need the daily vitamins from God's Word. Without God's word, prayer and fellowship of believers, no growth is possible.

Fertility

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 (ESV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 
Galatians 5:22+23 (ESV)

The fruit of the sunflower is used in many ways, for humans and animals. The fruit of the Children of God is not only to enjoy them themselves. Rather, it is the welfare of fellow human beings, intended for the glory of God.

4. Facing the Sun

The sun is light and a source of warmth, making life on earth possible. Just as the sunflowers turn their heads at night so that they look at the sun in the morning, so God created us to look up to Him.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Psalm 84:11 (ESV)

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, ...

Hebrew 12:2a (ESV)

A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1+2 (ESV)

Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 

Psalm 34:6 (ESV)

Author: Edith Waechter
AI-Images 1,4+5: https://www.canva.com/design/
Images 2+3: https://unsplash.com/de