Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. I don’t know what it is, but the older I get the more I am literally slowing down to smell and notice all the incredible flowers and foliage in my yard.
Several years ago we moved into our present home during the winter and come that next spring, we were in for a truly incredible surprise—flowers that had been planted by the previous owners began to bloom—all over our yard! It was breathtaking—and still is.
In our front yard we have two towering pecan trees. They provide a wonderful and welcome respite from the unrelenting Georgia sun; even in the hottest of summer days, a body can still sit underneath those trees with a cool glass of fresh lemonade and just enjoy God’s masterpiece.
As I was sitting on my front porch one day enjoying the soft breezes and all that my front yard had to offer, I noticed something quite interesting. The flowers in our front flower beds were all planted in straight rows but were leaning to the right or left at crazy angles—some near the ground and others almost straight up in the air. After some exploration, what I discovered left me speechless.
Phototropism
The flowers were exhibiting an amazing phenomenon called “phototropism.”* Basically, this means that they would turn or move—sometimes daily—in order to catch the sun’s rays. Sometimes the patches of sunlight through the pecan trees were only several inches wide—but it was just enough for those flowers. I found it interesting that no matter what was in their way, they did whatever they needed to do to get to the sun; it was, after all, their source of life and without it they would—well, you know.
After a bit o’pondering, I thought about how it’s so important for us to have a realization that no matter what’s happening in our lives, we need to stay focused on doing whatever it takes to get to the Son.
This made me think of a situation that Jesus and His disciples were in (see John 6:25-69). Jesus turned to his core of 12 disciples and blatantly asked them: “are you going to leave me too?” Wow! Imagine being asked a question like that from someone you’ve been hanging with for about three years. Could you imagine the shock on everybody’s face? But I love old Peter’s response. He said “ . . . ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God’” (vv. 68-69).
So when you’re hit with the daily messes of life—and you will be—and you’re tempted to look for your peace, power and purpose in other people or things, remember to do whatever it takes to get to the Son because only He has the power to give you life (John 10:10).
