The longer I have walked with the Lord, the more I have noticed that one of the ways the Lord talks to me is by giving me a word or a picture repeatedly. For instance, for the last three months, I have seen sunflowers seemingly everywhere I look. I am certain it is from the Lord because it is too often and too unrelated to be a coincidence.
I have seen sunflowers anywhere from movies, Instagram, Pinterest, a picture in books, on clothing, in photos, on cars, in drawings, and even on cakes. One day even my young son has come up to talk to me about sunflowers out of the blue. When I say I have been “plagued” by sunflowers I am not exaggerating when I tell you I have seen them over a hundred times in a month! I then realized the Lord was trying to get my attention to tell me something. From there, I was receptive to listening to Him. In being receptive, I did a quick internet search to find out facts about sunflowers and one detail that stuck out to me was that sunflowers move their head to track the sun in the sky. I thought that was interesting factoid, so I kept that in my mind.
The next day I listened to a sermon titled, “fix your eyes” in which the pastor talked about fixing your eyes on Jesus all throughout your day. I realized that was a confirmation of the correlation of what the Lord was laying on my heart.
Friend, if you have never thought to ask the Lord about what is showing up repeatedly in your life, I invite you to pray on it and ask God to show you the significance of what it is and write down everything that he shows you.
Below are all the things the Lord has shown me about the significance of the sunflower. If you want to know more on this topic of the discerning the Lord’s voice I encourage the book Hearing God by Dallas Willard.
Sunflowers are a reflection of what gives them life (the sun)
When the sunflowers are young, they turn their face/ eyes all day to track the course of the sun in the sky. In return they reflect the beauty of the sun both in their appearance (they look the sun) and in their name (SUNflower).
In time, sunflowers bring on fruit which are seeds
The seeds are used to nourish others and are spread to make new plants. Every part of the sunflowers has health benefits. At the end of their lifespan, they no longer track the sun but stand tall facing the east, awaiting on the arrival of the sun in the morning sky.
We are to turn our eyes to follow Jesus all day long
We are the sunflower and Jesus is the sun (Son). By keeping our eyes fixed on Him (abiding in Him) is what gives us life, we reflect Him in appearance (character) and by our name. We have fruit from our lives that nourishes others and are able to make "new plants" by spreading the gospel. Sunflowers do not seek the shade (represents comfort in the Bible. Jonah chapter four), they do not shy away from heat (heat signify trials in the Bible).
In order to meet their maximum potential they need a full day (life) in the sun (son). At the end of their lifespan, sunflowers stand tall facing the east because they are too heavy from the seeds to turn their head, waiting for the sun to rise every day. Did you know that headstones face the east because of the belief that Jesus is to return in the eastern sky? So, at our end of our lives, we too will fix our eyes in the direction we know that we will await the meeting of our King. Fun fact: sunflower is the only flower with the word "flower in its name"!
What has God been showing you recently? Email Midwest City Moms at info@mwcmoms.com or share this article on FB and share there!
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