While driving the other day I was struck by one of Minot’s most spectacular crops: Sunflowers. Where I’m from sunflowers aren’t a crop. They are a flower. A decoration. Corn is a crop. We plant fields of corn…not fields of flowers.
But this isn’t Indiana…and I’m glad they grow sunflowers here.
There are fields of them. As far as the eye can see. From a distance it just looks like someone has painted the ground yellow. Then, as you approach you see them…giant, perfect, mega-flowers.
And as I drove past {then stopped and stood on top of my car like a fool to take a few photos} I was reminded of something a dear friend once said at Bible study.
She said while she was praying she got an image of sunflowers in her head, and she thought it was a perfect metaphor for us as followers of Christ. Sunflowers spend their entire existence following the sun. In the morning they face east and as the day passes, their heads tilt toward the sky and follow the sun as it crosses to the west. I’m not making this up. That’s really what they do.
I think she was right. As believers we should spend our existence following the Son. Turning to face Him in every hour of our life.
Looking at the fields I felt it appropriate to take it a step deeper. I began to think of the field as a metaphor for the church as a whole.
Another thing you’ll notice when looking at a group of sunflowers is that they all face the same direction. They know the true light source. A single flower will not be distracted and look away at a lamp or a flashlight. As the sun moves across the sky, the flowers all move together. As one.
What would happen if we as the church could band together like a field of sunflowers. If the church wasn’t distracted by politics, attendance numbers, fancy buildings, or secular life? If we poured all of our attention toward the true life-source? I think it would be amazing. I think darkness would tremble.
To be clear…I’m not claiming to be a perfectly focused. I’ll be the first to admit it. But it is something to aspire to, something to strive for. It’s something to think about and pray about. Something I pray about. How can I be more focused on Christ? Where should I be looking? How can I move as part of the body of Christ? How can I be a better follower? It is so important to follow our individual callings, but we must all remember that we are called to act as one body, pursuing one mission: To glorify the Son and spread the Gospel to all nations.
All that from a country drive. Darn those cash crops and their infinite wisdom.
Amy
