{"id":554,"date":"2011-07-20T19:00:32","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T23:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/smalltownamerica\/?p=554"},"modified":"2012-07-10T02:02:02","modified_gmt":"2012-07-10T06:02:02","slug":"sunflowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/07\/sunflowers.html","title":{"rendered":"Sunflowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunflowers are beautiful to look at as they grow in the backyard.\u00a0 They make a nice fresh flower arrangement for a table centerpiece.\u00a0\u00a0 The sunflower design is used very often in home decor.\u00a0 My kitchen is done in sunflowers and birdhouses; everything from wall paper trim to dishes.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the fall, when the sunflowers are dead, is when they reach their greatest potential.\u00a0\u00a0 The birds love sunflower seeds in the cold winter months.\u00a0 Many people like roasted sunflower seeds.\u00a0 The seeds are also harvested to press out the oil, which is used in cooking.<\/p>\n

Sunflowers seeds don’t have a lot of potential until the flowers die.\u00a0 Even then to really useful they must either be crushed or baked.\u00a0 Sounds a bit like Christians to me.\u00a0 Our best ministry and potential can only be realized when we die and let Jesus live through us.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we have to go through the\u00a0furnace to bring out our best qualities.\u00a0 Our life situations, family dramas, and church relationships often make us feel like we are passing through the fires of purification.\u00a0 In a way we are like gold and sunflowers; when we face the heat, we come forth in a more beautiful and useful form.<\/p>\n

Like sunflowers, we too can be put through the press of tribulation.\u00a0 We all have issues that are part of our lives that we must face.\u00a0 It sometimes feels our very\u00a0 life is being squeezed from us.\u00a0 If sunflowers could feel and communicate, I bet they feel the same way.\u00a0 Pressure brings out what is inside us, whether it be bad or good.\u00a0 It’s relatively easy to put forth a good front when things are going well for us.\u00a0 But, when the pressure is on; that’s when we lose our temper, or speak words of anger.\u00a0 In Matthew 12:34b It says…” for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth\u00a0speaketh.”\u00a0 What is in our hearts will come out when we are pressed.<\/p>\n

A few years ago while on a mission trip to the Navajo Indian Reservation I took quite a fall.\u00a0 I landed on a rough stone floor on my already bad knee.\u00a0 I hit with such force that a a piece of flesh about a half an inch long, popped right out of my leg.\u00a0 The pain was awful.The first thing out of my mouth was ,”Help me Jesus.”\u00a0\u00a0 The next thing was “Go get the team leaders, we need to pray.”<\/p>\n

I was a little surprised at myself.\u00a0 I felt like saying something else, not so nice.\u00a0 But God knew what was really in my heart.\u00a0 The team wanted me to go home and seek medical attention.\u00a0 I chose to stay and pray through the pain and inconvenience.\u00a0 We had a great harvest of souls that week and actually even baptized some of the children before we left for home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunflowers are beautiful to look at as they grow in the backyard.\u00a0 They make a nice fresh flower arrangement for a table centerpiece.\u00a0\u00a0 The sunflower design is used very often in home decor.\u00a0 My kitchen is done in sunflowers and birdhouses; everything from wall paper trim to dishes. In the fall, when the sunflowers are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":420,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14],"tags":[19,21],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement","category-inspiration","tag-faith","tag-nature"],"yoast_head":"\nSunflowers - Small Town America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/07\/sunflowers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunflowers - Small Town America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sunflowers are beautiful to look at as they grow in the backyard.\u00a0 They make a nice fresh flower arrangement for a table centerpiece.\u00a0\u00a0 The sunflower design is used very often in home decor.\u00a0 My kitchen is done in sunflowers and birdhouses; everything from wall paper trim to dishes. 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