Archived post, June 2015 – Every year about this time a little something catches my eye as a drive down the road. Sunflowers are plentiful. They are everywhere and in the most amazing places!
Of course, all along the highway, you can see fields of them that have actually been planted. They can grow taller than the average person and on a trip home last year from down near Austin, Jerry and I commented about how many people had stopped to take pictures with the sunflowers.
Now, those sunflowers are beautiful – such a bright yellow and green against the big blue Texas sky, but my favorite of all sunflowers are the ones that pop up beside the highway unannounced, unattended and probably unnoticed and under appreciated by most. Each day on my little commute to work, I drive through this long stretch of construction zone. And the construction has been going on FOREVER… literally since we moved here over two years ago. One afternoon while I was waiting at one of the stoplights, I noticed several bright yellow buds popping over the concrete divider. It caught me completely by surprise! I loved the contrast of the bright yellow and green flowers to the dull gray concrete even more than those that were so stunning against just the sky. I loved that in the midst of busyness of the road and the roar of the machinery, there they were. I wondered how often I pass by beauty like that and don’t stop to appreciate it. I wonder how often there is a “flower” popping into the highway of my life and I drive by without a glance. I’m reminded that if God can sprout sunflowers along an over-driven construction site, he can – as He promises –
“give beauty for ashes, gladness for mourning and garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that [we] may be called trees of righteousness”. — Isaiah 61:3
When I started looking for them, I noticed them everywhere! I even spied some sprouting beside a port-a-potty in the construction behind our house. With that spotting, I may have even been more amazed; I was right on the fence of “yuck” and “wow”! If beauty can find its way there, it can surely be found anywhere!
Take a minute to notice them! They are everywhere right now.
Many Blessings, Bethany