Like sunflowers, humans need the Son to thrive

What happens when we lose our focus? If we lose our focus on our jobs, we become less productive. If we lose our focus on our family, we see relationships deteriorate. When we lose our focus on finances and too much is spent or too much is hoarded, life gets terribly out of balance. So is it the same with our spiritual lives? Several summers ago I made a trip to Plainview, Texas, and passed several fields of sunflowers. As I passed the fields on my way, sunflowers in the field were facing the east. Then when I came back to Clovis from Plainview that same day in the late afternoon, I noticed that those sunflowers were standing tall facing the west. Was it my imagination or was this a true phenomenon of the sunflower?

I am clueless when it comes to horticulture, and I have absolutely no idea about the scientific reason or explanation behind this wonder. So I called a farmer friend and sought his advice. I asked him if the sunflower really turn its face with the sun?

My friend verified my observation. He said that sunflowers do move with the position of the sun. That is exactly how they got their name. I am not sure but I suppose the obvious explanation is that the sunflower needs to face the sun to thrive.

The spiritual connection is this: This life offers so many interruptions and obstacles and it is easy to get caught in them. As a result, our focus changes and we take our eyes off the Son. I know from experience. When I get engrossed in worries, frustrations and situations that concern me each day, I get so overcome with worry because I am far from focusing on God.

Many Bible characters got into trouble because they took their eyes off the Lord. Isaac and Rebekah fell into favoritism toward one child over the other and the consequences were devastating. King David committed a terrible sin when he strayed from his relationship with the Lord. Remember Solomon? He requested wisdom from God so he could rule God’s people. God was pleased with this (1 Kings 3:3-14). As a result God gave Solomon riches and honor. But Solomon accumulated 700 wives and 300 concubines over his years of reign. Was that God’s will? The Bible says that all these wives were detrimental to Solomon because he took his eyes off the Lord. In time Solomon sold out to the influence of his wives. The Bible notes that over time Solomon's wives "turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father” (1 Kings 11:4).

From personal experience, I know how rough things can get when I take my eyes off the Son. When I try and do things in my own way and in my own time, the result is a tangled mess. Then I have to deal with trouble of my own making.

But when I keep my thoughts and aspirations on the Lord, I get strength to face the events of the day. The Scriptures verify that. Psalm 123:2 reads: “We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy,” and Colossians 3:1 says “Keep focusing on the things that are above, where the Messiah is seated at the right hand of God.”

Ann Graham Lotz, Bible teacher, writer and daughter of the late Billy Graham, wrote: “I want to take my focus off myself and focus on God. It's like setting your spiritual compass so no matter which way you turn during the day, whatever comes up, then my thoughts go back to him and whatever he said that morning.”

In a world that is so uncertain, start the day focusing on God. It is comforting to know that if our thoughts are always toward him and his will for our lives, we will thrive with our faces to the Son. The writer of Hebrews said it well when he wrote: “Therefore, holy brothers, partners in a heavenly calling, keep your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.” (Hebrews 3:1)

That was my lesson from the sunflowers.

Judy Brandon is a Clovis resident. Contact her at: [email protected]