Sunflowers

Sunflowers…….

My goodness, I think I could sit and stare at a single sunflower bobbing its head in a field all day long with a smile on my face. They are by far one of my favorite flowers. To some they are merely glorified weeds, but to me they are magnificent.

It isn’t their beauty that captures me, but rather their resilience and persistence. They grow in the most desolate and harsh of locations—on the sides of the road and in dusty, weed-strewn fields. They can grow in masses in bountiful fields but aren’t afraid to pop up fearlessly as a solo entity in the middle of an abandoned dirt plot. And no matter the conditions, whether being whipped by passing cars or being choked out by dry and barren soil, sunflowers always turn their heads to face the sunlight above with a confidence and optimism that I can’t help but admire.  

It should come as no surprise then that I chose to incorporate sunflowers into my wedding bouquet last year. When I think about what it takes to build and maintain relationships….whether it be with friends, family or your spouse….I think of all the same qualities that I see when I look at sunflowers. You have to be persistent, resilient, hopeful and always be looking upwards in faith to the source of everything we have and need in this life. And with all the bumps and twists in the road that Andy and I have overcome so far, it only seemed appropriate to include sunflowers into our special day. Though I’m quite sure I’m the only one who knew why. 

Ever since our wedding, however, I find myself needing reminders of what sunflowers represent to me….not just about surviving love and relationships….but about surviving life as a whole.

In the past few weeks I have bowed my head in dismal prayer on more than one occasion for the sake of several friends who are presently suffering serious and life-threatening ailments. I don’t believe there is a single person on earth who deserves to suffer the things they are dealing with, but it always seems like it’s the very best of us who are struck down by the greatest hardships. As strong as my faith in God is, these are the kinds of moments when I find myself stumbling the most. 

The times we are living in—filled with the suffering of so many—are difficult times indeed. I often find myself not wanting to get out of bed and start another day because it seems as though nothing good lies ahead. I am overwhelmed by the suffering of those around me, particularly those I am close to. I feel useless when it comes to helping them and feel that offering up supportive words is superficial and does little to improve their circumstances.

The truth is, there is little most of us can do for people suffering physical illness—both in our lives and around the world. We have to trust a lot of that work to doctors and medicine. About the only beneficial thing we can do—for ourselves and those suffering around us—is to be like sunflowers.

We have to be resilient and not let grief and fear overcome us. We have to be persistent in our fight alongside our friends and family and let them know that we will never give up on them. We have to be hopeful that healing and peace will eventually come. We have to fight the urge to flee or shrivel up from the burden of being caregivers or supporters but instead keep our faces turned towards the light---be that hope, determination or faith in God. 

In the neighborhood I recently moved into, several new homes are still under construction and a few dirt lots still patiently await buyers. With the summer heat and rains, weeds have begun sprouting up all over the place. I hate their ugly appearance and the depth to which their roots so quickly dive. And I’ve spent a good deal of my summer pulling and hacking away at the weeds in my yard to get rid of them. But a few weeks ago while I was tackling some more weeds in the back yard, I glanced over to my neighbor’s yard. As bad as our yard is, his has become a veritable jungle of spiky green masses. But there in the middle of all the ugliness, was a single sunflower stalk rising up above the weeds. And it made me smile. 

Like I said earlier, sunflowers themselves are considered by many to be just another weed. But there’s a brightly colored bloom on the end of them that suggests otherwise. They suggest that there is more than meets the eye and that something beautiful can be harvested from anywhere, no matter how dismal. 

As the weeks have gone on, I’ve noticed more and more sunflowers sprouting up on other lots around us. I like to think that they’ll encourage people to look past the weeds and see the potential beyond them---they’ll see the future home for their family. But regardless, they are daily reminders for me of my need to stay strong and hopeful even in the midst of so much pain and sickness. Being a sunflower won’t cure my friends of their illness but it will help me stay and fight beside them. And it might even encourage them to become sunflowers themselves. And sunflowers, it seems, are entirely unwilling to ever give up or give in. They choose only to see the light and all of its promises before them.