the sunflower

In the spring my three year old grandson and I planted a packet of sunflower seeds in a pot.  Every time we ventured into the backyard we would check for signs of green leaves.  For whatever reason, only one seed actually germinated and produced a sunflower.   After all the waiting, you can imagine our excitement as that one lone flower grew taller and taller each day. 

After a few weeks the sunflower’s head grew heavy and the stem began to bend until eventually the plant was horizontal.  I told my grandson that the sunflower was very tired and his head was getting too heavy for him to stay awake…reluctantly I cut the stalk down being careful to save the seeds for next year. 

Yesterday, out of the blue, my grandson very sweetly asked if the sunflower was awake, yet.  (They remember everything don’t they?)  I explained to him that the sunflower would stay asleep until next spring and that we would use the seeds he left behind to grow new sunflowers.

I couldn’t help but see an analogy in the story of the sunflower…

We go along in life scattering seeds hoping to produce a harvest and more often times than not, only a seed or two will flourish into flowers growing tall and strong for a season, leaving behind seeds of their own.
 

Sometimes it seems our seeds are weighed down with heavy burdens and may even seem to wither and die but they are only sleeping until the time for a new harvest draws near. 

Take a look at those seeds you’ve scattered being careful to look to the next generations harvest and ask the question of a hope filled child…

Is the sunflower awake, yet?

I'm linking to Fishtail Cottage for Flora Thursday.