I drove home from work full on angst, feeling restless, but not wanting to do anything.
This past week our region has seen some thunderstorms that have brought high winds and heavy rains. The line of sunflowers in our garden was showing the effects of that; leaves wilted, plants toppled over, their yellow faces nearly touching the ground. The flowers looked a lot like I felt.
I had a bit of time before getting the kids from school, and it currently wasn’t storming, so I went out to clean up a bit, to set back up the plants that would, and harvest flowers from the ones that wouldn’t. As I worked, I tried processing in my mind the different thoughts swirling in my head from this morning. I was having a hard time landing on anything when the words broke through,
“these flowers turn towards the sun.”
Sunflowers seek out the sun. As the sun tracks across the sky, the flowers follow its warmth and energy. Even the plants that had been blown over, their roots still holding strong but their bodies bent, their flowers were still turning towards the sun.
And suddenly a spark of hope. I don’t have the answers and there isn’t any magic phrase that will suddenly make everything alright. But even when we’re bent and broken, even when we’re beaten down and our soul feels wilted and weary, we can still turn towards the Son. We can seek out His truth, His promise, His hope. It doesn’t make the hard go away, but it helps us to be able to endure.
So, friend, if you’re feeling bent and weary, if your soul is so doubled over that you’re nearly touching the ground, please, hold on. Keep those roots grounded in the Truth, turn your soul to the Son, and seek His hope and promise for your hurting heart. And if you see another who is broken in this way, be the gardener who helps set them back up.
And remind them to turn towards the Son.
