Blog Archives
Surprise!
Surprises are a mixed bag. Some are welcome, some not:
an unexpected birthday party,
a positive pregnancy test,
a letter from the IRS, months after you’ve paid your taxes,
a bouquet of flowers when it’s not your anniversary or birthday,
a deer that leaps in front of your car at 60 mph.
This week I was surprised–pleasantly–by sunflowers.
Six feet tall, seven at the best–that was all I expected. According to the description on the back of the sunflower seed packets, these varieties shouldn’t be this tall.
The Mammoth Russians I knew would grow eight to twelve feet high, but I was surprised to be looking up at the Evening Sun and Autumn Beauty sunflowers towering four feet above me, reaching into the eaves of the garage.
When I get more than I bargain for,
more than I expect,
more than I deserve,
it warms my heart, triggers happy tears, and drops me to my knees.
These are the surprises that amaze and astonish.
And the greatest surprise, the epiphany that prompts hands raised in praise?
I am surprised to be loved by God.
I am in awe of the great wonder of Jesus’ saving grace and His startling love for me. It is more than I could expect, more than I deserve.
But me he caught—reached all the way
from sky to sea; he pulled me out
Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,
the void in which I was drowning.
They hit me when I was down,
but God stuck by me.
He stood me up on a wide-open field;
I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!Psalm 18:16-19 MSG
God continues to bless me with the wonder of the unexpected. This week, as I photographed the sunflowers (those I could reach), I noticed the scarlet shape of a male cardinal sitting on the garage window sill, half hidden behind the thick stalks. Then I startled into flight a bright, mating-season yellow goldfinch, that had been perched on a ripening seed head.
I had received another surprise, a gift wrapped in beauty with a “card” signed, “your loving Father.”
We’ll never comprehend all the great things he does;
his miracle-surprises can’t be counted. Job 9:10
My prayer for us all:
May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you . . . 2 Thess. 2:16-17 MSG
How has God surprised you this week?
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My thanks go to blogger Walter Bright. I was inspired by his post “Surprised by His Love,” commenting on Psalm 18:16-19 MSG.
The Accidental Sunflower
Not planted, yet sown
by the birds’ careless, ravenous feasting,
buried by debris swept off the sidewalk,
a sunflower grew tight beside the white porch railing.
A seed sprouted and stretched tender leaves toward the sun,
turned its veiled face to the east,
unfurled golden flags of ray petals,
waved emerald leaves in the breeze,
welcomed the soaking rain,
opened its seedy heart wide
and grinned a spiraled smile.
I joyfully watched the accidental sunflower grow and change from a castaway seed to a mature bloom. I saw the bees’ pollen-laden visits, the spider’s trapeze web, and the grasshoppers’ hungry gnawing.
I saw the ray petals burn bright gold and then fade and wither as the seed hulls swelled fat and green.
I saw the color drain away, leaving silver and brown as the seeds ripened and the birds found the sunflower’s final gift.
From life to life.
I saw and witnessed the meaningfulness and beauty of the sunflower’s life, which existed despite its “accidental” beginning.
Our Lord is the God who sees us . . . and cares for us, as He did for Hagar. Hagar was a slave who fled Sarai’s abuse and ran into the desert, pregnant and alone. Her life was not what she had planned, a life of disdain given and received, but
the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; . . . he said, ‘Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’ Genesis 16:7,8 NIV
The Lord knew who she was and addressed her by name. He instructed Hagar to return to Sarai and told her about the future of her son. Hagar, an unseen servant, caught up in unplanned circumstance, called God el Roi.
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.’ Genesis 16:13 NIV
Perhaps your life has not gone as you planned, like Hagar, and difficult circumstances tangle your feet like briars on a path. God sees. God cares. He knows your future and has a purpose for you.
Great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Jeremiah 32:19 NIV
Perhaps you have known, perhaps you have been the child whose parents did not love you as they should have, did not protect you, didn’t provide for your needs, body and soul. Maybe you are hurting as much as the woman whose mother hurled the words “unwanted” and “accident” at her. God sees. God cares.
Even if my father and mother abandon me,
the Lord will hold me close. Psalm 27:10 NLT
Maybe you feel rejected by the one who said, “I do” and then didn’t. God sees. God cares.
Don’t be afraid. For you are very precious to God.
Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!Daniel 10:19
Despite our bleak beginnings and pained past and fractured faith, God sees and has a purpose for us: to love and be loved, to do what only you can do and be in the place that only you can be.
God knows where we have come from and where we are going. He sees. We can grow from an accidental and unplanned beginning to a beautiful, joyous, and meaningful life.
From life to Life.
But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16 NIV
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Photo of sprouting sunflower seed from the National Sunflower Association.
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Linking with
Revisiting: “Gone to Seed” or “Perfection”
Summer reruns on TV can be pretty boring, unless they’re showing the episode you missed last fall. (So that’s what Lady Violet meant by her most recent zinger.)
In case you didn’t see it the first time, here’s an updated version of a post from last October.
* * * * *
This is a perfect sunflower.
Even if a few of the ray petals have been nibbled, the next one is still perfect.
And this ragged, windblown flower, eaten by root worm beetles?
Perfect again.
The beautiful, golden ray petals are gone. The leaves have shriveled in hot, dry winds.
Still perfect.
This sunflower head is frostbitten, not a trace of green leaf or sunny yellow left.
It is absolutely perfect!
Not your idea of perfection? It depends on what language you’re speaking. We English speakers most often think of this definition of the word “perfect:”
entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings; correct in every detail
Some of us have carried over this idea of flawlessness to our Christian walk, thinking a character and life without defects was required of us. We have heard bits of verses taken out of the whole of Scripture, and they made living the Christian life seem like a Herculean task.
For every honest heart knows they are bug-eaten, wind-blown, and drought-stunted. There are days the hard freezes of life stop us in our tracks, and we feel like dried-out husks without a tinge of green life left in us. We make the choices and say the words and think the thoughts that take us a universe away from perfection.
There is good news, friends! We need to reclaim the older meanings of the word-perfect.” The old Latin word from which our English comes is
“perfectus:” to finish, bring to completion.
We are not responsible for or even capable of finishing or completing the story that is our life. God is. Like the sunflower, we just turn to face the sun and grow.
And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns. Philippians 1:6 TLB
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 NIV
In the Greek of the New Testament the word for “perfect” is teleios which means
a thing meeting its intended, end purpose.
What is the designed, end purpose of the sunflower? In general, all of creation testifies to God’s glory and His character.
Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. Romans 1:20 RSV
However, what can the sunflower do that nothing else can? It produces sunflower seeds–enough seeds to ensure reproduction and to feed birds and other animals.
We live in a broken world , but the good news is “the Good News.” Jesus provided a way for us to be forgiven, and now we can live out our intended end purpose. Jesus taught that the first and second greatest commandments were to love God and love our neighbor as our self.
We can love and glorify God. We can love our neighbors by sharing the gospel seeds with a world that is spiritually (and literally) hungry. Be a perfect sunflower–face the warm sun and “go to seed.”
Perfection!
* * * * *
Sunflower photo 1 and 2 by Barb Briggs
Sunflower with goldfinch photo by Audreyjm529
* * * * *
linking with
Jennifer Dukes Lee 
Laura Boggess
Revisiting: Ah! Sunflower or The Forbidden City (part 2)
I never mind having leftovers from supper. I try to serve them later with a new item or in a new combination. For example, Monday’s extra rice from a stir-fry and Tuesday’s roast chicken become Wednesday’s chicken and rice.
An updated version of a post from last August (when I began blogging) is on the menu today. Enjoy the new photos by Barb Briggs! Leftovers aren’t so bad after all, are they?
* * * * *
Imagine that you’re shopping, and you see a sweater that you like very much in a nice shade of sunflower yellow . It fits you (and your budget), so you place it on the counter near the cash register and announce, “I’ll take it.”
The clerk replies, “I’m sorry. Only members of the Royal Family can buy that color. May I interest you in the blue sweater instead?”
Sound implausible? The color yellow was so identified with the Chinese imperial family (a symbol of their “celestial nature”), that only they could wear it. Even the roofs of nearly all the buildings in the imperial palace complex were constructed of yellow, glazed tiles. This complex of religious, political, and residential buildings, called the Forbidden City, was surrounded by a 26′ high wall and a 20′ deep moat. Commoners and royalty were forbidden to enter without permission of the Emperor.
Thankfully, there are no walls or moats between us and God. We have access to him because of Jesus’ self-sacrifice on the cross.
By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us.
Romans 5:1 The Message
We can return to the metaphor of God as sun and believers as sunflowers in the next verse in Romans 5. Now that we have access to God, we can be in His presence and worship Him.
We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
Romans 5:2 The Message
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! . . .Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (The Message)
If we are like sunflowers facing the east, toward God, we are becoming “brighter and more beautiful” because He is not only sharing his presence with us, but his “celestial nature.” The restrictions of imperial China are long gone. We common sunflowers are allowed to wear yellow, but our color is a gift of the sun (not a sweater we buy in a store). When the sun shines on a sunflower, the flower absorbs all the other color wavelengths (think rainbow) and reflects yellow. So we see golden, yellow flowers.
“We were created to reflect God’s glory, born to bear his image, and he ransomed us to reflect that glory again. ”
from Waking the Dead by John Eldredge
God loved us enough to send his Son
- to reestablish access to Him,
- to restore relationship with us,
- so we might reflect his glory.
The Lord delights in seeing us become more like Him and therefore a better version of ourselves–a more wonderful sunflower.
The glory of God is man fully alive. St. Irenaeus
I can imagine the Lord shining on us, saying “Ah! Sunflower!”
Sunflower photos by Barb Briggs
Forbidden City photo by Pete Stewart
* * * * *
linking with Jennifer Dukes Lee
linking with Holley Gerth
linking with Essential Thing Devotions
linking with Diane Bailey
Revisiting: Ah! Sunflower or Heliotropism (part 1)
Today’s offering is an updated version of a post from last August, when I began blogging. I’m revisiting a topic that interests many some a few people. Honest! Someone besides me googled “sunflowers and heliotropism” and ended up here.
Enjoy the new photos by Barb Briggs!
* * * * *
Sunflowers have inspired
Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh
“Ah! Sunflower” by William Blake
and worship.
The ancient Aztecs and Incas used sunflowers in ceremonies honoring their sun-god–a natural connection, since the color and shape of the flower echoes the sun.
The sunflower, however, is more than a pretty, golden face, reminding us of the sun. The flower seems to “worship” the sun because of the way the buds and leaves of sunflowers orient themselves to face the sun, following its movement from east to west across the sky. (This is called heliotropism.)
By the time the sunflower matures and is in full bloom, the flowers permanently face east.
This video (from Indiana University, Department of Biology) shows a young sunflower plant tracking the sun over a 24-hour period.
The dance of the sunflowers and the sun is a wonderful (full of wonder) picture of the relationship between believer and God. Sunflowers, like any plant, need the sun to survive. This is the process of photosynthesis where light energy is converted into chemical energy that the plant can use.
For in him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:28 NIV
English-speaking Christians have often taken advantage of the happy coincidence of the homonym of sun/son, but there is some Biblical basis for idea of God as the “sun.”
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; . . . Psalm 84:11 NIV
The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. Psalm 118:27 NIV
His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. Revelation 1:16 NIV
We “sunflowers” turn our faces toward the Lord.
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:13-15 NIV
Your face, Lord, I will seek. Psalm 27:8 NIV
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Psalm 105:4 NIV
Too much information? Is it all Greek to you? Just remember God shines his light on us, and we seek his face like the sunflower. “Shine” and “seek.”
photos by Barb Briggs
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linking with Essential Devotions
linking with Diane Bailey
linking with Sandra Heska King
The Center of the Universe
I sat on the gray, wooden steps of the porch and pointed my camera up at the brilliant yellow of a bird-planted sunflower. I sat because I couldn’t trust my balance to keep me steady while standing and holding the camera with both hands.
Just a few days earlier, the world had spun around me like a carousel out of control, and when it stopped, it left me reeling and nauseous.
At the doctor’s office, the nurse noticed my eyes scanning the floor in front of my feet and my hand reaching for the wall to steady myself.
Don’t look down, she cautioned. Look up. Look ahead.
The doctor wrote “vertigo” in a space on the yellow form left blank for a diagnosis.
Inner ear . . . possibly a virus . . . medication three times a day . . . keep your head steady
All this would help control the dizziness, to keep the world from spinning.
But the world really is spinning, rotating on its axis at about 1,000 miles per hour (at the equator).
The earth is orbiting the sun at 67,000 miles per hour, and our sun is speeding around the center of our Milk Way galaxy at 490,000 miles per hour.
Even though we are spinning and circling and hurtling through the galaxy, we can’t sense that enormous velocity. There is no galactic motion sickness. “Dizzying” speeds produce no dizziness.
Despite the unimaginable and yet undetectable speeds, my world can be still. When the eternal God is the center of my universe, there is peace and calm.
But when I put myself at the center of all things, and my life spins on the axis of my self-centeredness, there is no tranquility. There is dis-ease–vertigo of the soul. I was never meant to be the center of the universe. Only God is.
The nurse’s words echo.
Don’t look down. Look up. Look ahead.
I need to turn my gaze away from my own stumbling feet and toward the God who created
the star-studded, spiraled arms of galaxies,
the intersecting spirals at the center of a sunflower,
and tiny, perfect spiral of the cochlea of the inner ear.
Then my world will cease its frantic, dizzying spin. It will quiet and be still.
Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him; Psalm 37:7 NIV
Be still, and know that I am God Psalm 46:10 NIV
earth photo from visibleearth.nasa.gov
galaxy photo from Hubblesite.org
* * * * *
linking with Diane W. Bailey
linking with Sandra Heska King
linking with Essential Thing Devotions
linking with Jennifer Dukes Lee
linking with Holley Gerth
Small Beginnings
I confess. I want my life, my faith, my ministry, answers to prayer full grown. I want them now. I don’t like the hard, long, waiting times, the-start-small-and-watch-it-grow times.
God, however, seems to be perfectly happy with small things and small beginnings:
a small tribe that births a Messiah
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”Micah 5:2 NIV
small coins given with a wide-open heart,
But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.” Mark 12:4243 NIV
small fish, small loaves given to be multiplied,
His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”
“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.” . . .
They all ate and were satisfied. Matthew 15:33,34, 37
small seeds that grow into mighty plants,
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Matthew 13:31,32
small children presented to be blessed,
People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
Mark 10:13-16 NIV
small bricks stacked and mortared together to build a mighty wall.
. . . the Word of God came to me: “Zerubbabel started rebuilding this Temple and he will complete it. That will be your confirmation that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me to you. Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings? They’ll change their tune when they see Zerubbabel setting the last stone in place!” Zechariah 4:8-10 MSG
Who dares despise the day of small things . . . ? Zechariah 4:10 NIV
Who, indeed? Lord, teach me to give thanks for small beginnings, as you did, and help me to wait for the miracle.
When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Mark 8:6-8 NIV
sunflower photo by Barb Briggs
linking with Lisa Jo Baker
(five minutes of writing, extra time to add Scripture quotes and photos)
linking with Jennifer Dukes Lee
linking with Holly Gerth
“Gone to Seed” or “Perfection”
This is a perfect sunflower.
photo by Barb Briggs
Even if a few of the ray petals have been nibbled, the next one is still perfect.
photo by Barb Briggs
And this ragged, windblown flower, eaten by root worm beetles?
Perfect again.
The beautiful, golden ray petals are gone. The leaves have shriveled in hot, dry winds.
Still perfect.
This sunflower head is frostbitten, not a trace of green leaf or sunny yellow left.
It is absolutely perfect!
Not your idea of perfection? It depends on what language you’re speaking. We English speakers most often think of this definition of the word “perfect:”
entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings; correct in every detail
Some of us have carried over this idea of flawlessness to our Christian walk, thinking a character and life without defects was required of us. We have heard bits of verses taken out of the whole of Scripture, and they made living the Christian life seem like a Herculean task.
For every honest heart knows they are bug-eaten, wind-blown, and drought-stunted. There are days the hard freezes of life stop us in our tracks, and we feel like dried-out husks without a tinge of green life left in us. We make the choices and say the words and think the thoughts that take us a universe away from perfection.
There is good news, friends! We need to reclaim the older meanings of the word “perfect.” The old Latin word from which our English comes is
“perfectus:” to finish, bring to completion.
In the Greek of the New Testament is the word for “perfect” (teleios) which speaks of
a thing meeting its intended, end purpose.
What is the designed, end purpose of the sunflower? In general, all of creation testifies to God’s glory and His character.
Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. Romans 1:20 RSV
However, what can the sunflower do that nothing else can? It produces sunflower seeds–enough seeds to ensure reproduction and to feed birds and other animals.
Photo by Audreyjm529 under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0.
We live in a broken world , but the good news is “the Good News.” Jesus provided a way for us to be forgiven, and now we can live out our intended end purpose. Jesus taught that the first and second greatest commandments were to love God and love our neighbor as our self.
We can love and glorify God. We can love our neighbors by sharing the gospel seeds with a world that is spiritually (and literally) hungry. Be a perfect sunflower–face the warm sun and “go to seed.”
Perfection!
Refrigerator Magnets or God’s Alphabet
Preparing for the delivery of a new refrigerator, I removed all the magnets and photos from the old model before its scheduled removal. I carefully placed photographs of children, grandchildren, nieces & nephews in a cardboard box and dropped the variety of magnets beside the photos:
plain round magnets,
wooden hearts painted in long-past VBS crafts session,
business cards,
picture frames,
and a lone “F,” all that remained from a set of magnetic letters given away years ago.
I have long since forgotten who the child was, but they must have struggled to learn their alphabet.
After the side of the new refrigerator was redecorated with magnetic smiles and frozen-in-time moments, the “F” remained on the front.
It became, however, less a child’s educational toy and more a graded evaluation of a time in my life, “F” for failure:
I hadn’t thought of “Sandy” in years, but one day a sudden flood of memories of my cruel words drowned me in remorse. I’d been happily chatting a moment before, but blue skies had turned to emotional storm clouds in a moment. I wished I had never hurt her, and I wished I could forget this long-ago, confessed sin the way God had.
For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.Hebrews 8:12 (NIV)
I don’t know whether it is a gift of God or a product of a middle-aged memory, but as I write today, I can’t recall my cold-hearted offense toward “Sandy.” I have removed the “F” magnet from my refrigerator and placed this photo there instead to remind me of God’s abounding love.
photo by Barb Briggs
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.Psalm 103:8-12 (NIV)
I am grateful that God’s love is so great that he can remove and forget my sins. He does not write red-inked and large across the papers of my life: “F” for failing. Like my gifted magnetic letters, God’s alphabet now has no “F.”
Photos by Barb Briggs
Ah! Sunflower or The Forbidden City (part 2)
Imagine that you’re shopping, and you see a sweater that you like very much in a nice shade of sunflower yellow . It fits you (and your budget), so you place it on the counter near the cash register and announce, “I’ll take it.”
The clerk replies, “I’m sorry. Only members of the Royal Family can buy that color. May I interest you in the blue sweater instead?”
Forbidden City, Beijing, China
Sound implausible? The color yellow was so identified with the Chinese imperial family (a symbol of their “celestial nature”), that only they could wear it. Even the roofs of nearly all the buildings in the imperial palace complex were constructed of yellow, glazed tiles. This complex of religious, political, and residential buildings, called the Forbidden City, is surrounded by a 26′ high wall and a 20′ deep moat. Commoners and royalty were forbidden to enter without permission of the Emperor.
Thankfully, there are no walls or moats between us and God. We have access to him because of Jesus’ self-sacrifice on the cross.
By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us.
Romans 5:1 The Message
We can return to the metaphor of God as sun and believers as sunflowers in the next verse in Romans 5. Now that we have access to God, we can be in His presence and worship Him.
We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
Romans 5:2 The Message
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! . . .Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (The Message)
If we are like sunflowers facing the east, toward God, we are becoming “brighter and more beautiful” because He is not only sharing his presence with us, but his “celestial nature.” The restrictions of imperial China are long gone. We common sunflowers are allowed to wear yellow, but our color is a gift of the sun (not a sweater we buy in a store). When the sun shines on a sunflower, the flower absorbs all the other color wavelengths (think rainbow) and reflects yellow. So we see golden, yellow flowers.
“We were created to reflect God’s glory, born to bear his image, and he ransomed us to reflect that glory again. ”
Waking the Dead by John Eldredge
God loved us enough to send his Son
- to reestablish access to Him,
- to restore relationship with us,
- so we might reflect his glory.
The Lord delights in seeing us become more like Him and therefore a better version of ourselves–a more wonderful sunflower.
The glory of God is man fully alive. St. Irenaeus
I can imagine the Lord shining on us, saying “Ah! Sunflower!”
photo by Barb Briggs
background photo by Barb Briggs
Forbidden City photo by Pete Stewart from Perth, Australia
Constance Ann Morrison 
