By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help your week.

Sunflowers.  Have you ever really taken a close look or paid attention to sunflowers?  Other flowers have more dramatic or more scientific names.  Obviously a rose by any other name smells as sweet and is still a rose.  Why is the sunflower called a sunflower?

For one thing, it is shaped very closely to the likeness of a glowing yellow sun that each of us, as elementary school children, drew at the top of our handcrafted designs of farms, houses, animals, or people.  The flower simply looks like the sun.

But also, the sunflower looks toward the sun.  A sunflower grows taller and taller, reaching for the warmth and light of the sun above.  The sunflower even turns to follow the movement of the sun throughout the day.  A sunflower looks for the sun and reaches up to meet it.

As Christians, we are called to bloom where we are planted.  So let’s assume the name of sunflower, or more aptly, SONflower.  Growing as we should in His world, we reach upward toward the Son, we look for Him, follow His movements, and bask in His warmth.

It’s all so simple.  We should resemble a simple childlike drawing of the sun – big and bright, reflecting the light of the Son into our world.  So, dear SONflowers, are we living up to our name this week?  Perhaps the more important question is are we living up to His name?

Just a thought.