The beautiful Sunflowers

Something occured to me today.
Kansas is in the heart of the bible belt and it is referred to as "The Sunflower State"

Sunflowers are wonderful flowers that have spoken to us for hundreds of years, yet we haven't always heard!
The Sunflower, as it grows, faces the sun, following it warm embrace as it travels across the sky until the dark of night arrives. Once the sun has gone down, you will notice that the sunflowers continue in vain to follow their beloved life giving sun, they search tirelessly looking in all directions. On cloudy days, the same is true. The sunflower desperately searches the skies for the warmth of their sun.
The fascinating thing about these quite often overlooked flower comes at its maturity. Once this faithful flower matures, it looks directly to the East! It knows wihout a doubt where the sun will return.
As Christians we want to follow Jesus, the Son. When times of darkness invade our world as they often do, we may desperately look for our precious Savior to embrace and warm us with His love. When trouble comes and we do not know which way to turn we are taught to not give up but to seek Jesus out for comfort and hopefully, answers. Then, as we mature in our faith, we come to understand that Jesus is with us always, we know He is there, so we no longer need to search for him. As our faith grows into maturity, we learn if we hold on to our faith, when it seems the darkness will never end, we know to whom we need to look and we know where to find Him. The bible tells us that Jesus will return to earth and He will return from the East.

The sunflower has become more beautiful and more precious to me each time I think about them or when I see them. I love their message of faith, the way they teach us to follow the Son, the way they show us from where He will return. Once the Sunflower has matured it looks to the east as we should for the Sons return, never swaying from its calm patience. Never doubting His return. Understanding, that Jesus is "with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20b)