I sometimes laugh at how God speaks to me. He has a tendency to break all my boxes and pop all my bubbles. I believe He enjoys that kind of destruction. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil after all. 🙂
The following story is a turning point. Based on my last post, you might be tempted to think I cry all the time haha. But I don’t! The past few weeks have been absolutely amazing, and I will share more soon. But let me start with this story. 🙂
A few weeks ago, a woman at church prophesied into my friends life, encouraging her by comparing her to a tiger-lily flower. As they talked, I looked over their heads into the main hallway. All I could see was a MASSIVE banner with sunflowers all over it. To myself, I thought, “man. sunflowers are probably my least favorite flower in the whole world. They’re big, and awkward, and ugly.” Haha. The unspoken words had barely crossed my mind when the woman turned to me with a huge smile and said, “and I feel like the Lord is saying you’re a sunflower!” I wish the dimmed lights in the room had been able to mask my indignation better.
As a total stranger compared me to the flower I disliked, her uplifting and incredibly accurate words bounced off my angry heart like bouncy balls on a brick wall. I was fixated on how inconsiderate God was for comparing me to the one flower I just told him I hated! I had wanted God to speak to me, but not like that!
As we left, my friend wanted to find some real sunflowers, convinced that if I could just see them, I’d appreciate their beauty. We ended up at Trader Joe’s and found a bouquet with several nestled in it. I took one look at their huge awkward heads, felt their stubbly stems and sandpaper leaves and the tears welled up again.
When I got home that night, I went online and researched the flower in question. To my surprise, I discovered some pretty cool things!
• Did you know that sunflowers are considered “volunteer plants?” They will grow almost anywhere. A sunflower can fall out of a bird feeder and grow right where it hits the ground.
• They grow fast and they grow tall. A sunflower can grow 8-12 feet within 6 months and it only takes 90-100 days from seed to maturity. The tallest one on record is over 25 FEET tall!!
• Their heads are actually 1,000-2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle. The little flowers follow an intricate pattern of three intersecting circles and they all go to seed! The outer “petals” are actually “ray flowers” that don’t develop into seed. (isn’t that cool!?)
• And the heads follow the sun 🙂
As I read, the Holy Spirit reminded me how this season of my life really can be seen reflected in this magnificent flower. My impromptu “volunteer” move to Annapolis, how much I’ve been learning and growing, and how quickly; my desire to love and provide for the people around me and how I love to follow the Son! So many of these descriptions resonated in my heart.
As I got up, I glanced at the tablecloth and just laughed. It was covered in sunflowers! I think God laughed too. It was the beginning of a change of heart.
The next day I went downtown and passed by a large flower pot that generally hosts an array of broken beer bottles and other debris. I looked into the wreckage and nestled in the bottles was a cloth sunflower. I decided that if it was still there when I walked back I would take it with me. Sure enough it was and it now rests on my windowsill.
A day later, I went to Trader Joes again and was surprised to see the bouquet displays exploding with sunbursts of yellow and huge brown centers. There were even sunflower plants for sale! I laughed out loud and bought a bouquet, starting to see the beauty I had so quickly written off just days before.
As I paid, the girl at the counter commented on how much she loves sunflowers. I actually agreed with her and asked if they would be selling the potted ones for much longer. I almost bought one that day haha! She said absolutely, since they were coming into season. I thanked God as I left.
Since then I have seen an abundance of sunflowers all over Annapolis. It brings me great joy that the Lord speaks through His creation, helping me to see things like He sees them. Just as this is the season for sunflowers, every flower I see is a reminder that this is a special season in my life too. I look forwarding to growing tall and strong in the Lord as I prepare for the World Race and I'm learning that when I see the world through my Fathers eyes, it makes everything more bright, more beautiful, and everything comes alive.
I bless you all in Jesus name!
Love always,
~Chelle
