Following the Sun
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” 1 Chronicles 16:11
Sunflowers are famous for their sun-following behavior.
The flower starts the day with its bloom facing east. As the sun travels across the sky from east to west, the flower tilts its head in sync so the bloom continually faces the position of the sun. At the end of the afternoon, the flower faces west. The scientific name for this behavior is heliotropism.
At night when the sun’s warming light is hidden, the sunflower makes a poignant display that looks to me like faith and worship. In the darkest part of the night, the sunflower lifts its leaves and turns its face toward the east. No light has yet appeared, but the sunflower anticipates the sun and places itself in position to be ready to receive the first rays at dawn.
Here is a time lapse video that shows sunflowers following and anticipating the sun.
Interestingly, a sunflower grown under a static grow light keeps its face pointed toward the unmoving light. The flower seems to remember what the light source has done in the past and anticipate that it will do the same thing in the future.
There’s the obvious and beautiful metaphor: Being designed to receive delight from God, I demonstrate my faith and hope in Him by turning toward Him. Like the sunflower to the sun, I can attune myself so closely to God that every day – every moment of every day – I shift to align with Him. I can anticipate His goodness in the dark moments and point myself toward where I can expect His light to appear. In this way, I am positioned to receive his blessing.
James 1:17 says “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
Something else occurred to me as I was thinking about the mechanics of heliotropism. To the sunflower, it looks like the sun is moving across the sky and the flower must move to follow it.
It’s true the flower must move so that it can properly orient itself and continually face the sun.
But the sun didn’t move.
It is the spinning of the world around the sunflower that causes its orientation to the sun to change.
At first, I feel I should be mad at the world for changing. It means I need to move in order to orient myself toward my source of life and light. It’s not just about me and God. It’s about me and God and the world. But what if we don’t have to be mad at the world about this?
What if this is also part of God’s good design?
The world is in motion. We are on a journey. It is our life’s work to remember God’s goodness to us in the past; to follow His goodness today; and, in the darkness, to turn toward the direction we believe His goodness will appear in the future.
An invitation to consider
- Ask God for eyes to see and a heart to receive what He has for you today.
- See if you can attune yourself to God and orient your face toward Him.
- Do you need to move your body, mind, or spirit?
- Is God showing you something about himself or about your relationship with Him?
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.