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What Sunflowers Can Teach Us About Community
Spiritual Growth

The Sad Sunflower: What Sunflowers Can Teach Us About Community

November 1, 2021

Recently, as I was leaving my parents’ home with my two sons in the backseat, there by the side of the country road on the outskirts of Willard, Missouri, I saw this sad sunflower, staring depressingly at the ground.

This seemed an odd picture since sunflowers are usually known for their bright, cheerful, and sunny dispositions. I could not stop thinking of this sunflower on my journey home. 

What had caused her to feel so sad?

Was it the threat of impending storms and the cloudy skies overhead? Was it an over-saturation of water due to the recent rain that saturated the Ozarks early that morning?

Or, was it because this one solitary sunflower was planted in a shady location, with none of her sunny friends to offer comfort and camaraderie? 

There is a popular meme on social media that shows a picture of two sunflowers, their heads facing each other, in what appears to be a sun-infused kiss.

The meme says something to the effect of:

“Sunflowers turn toward each other to share energy and nutrients when they cannot obtain these things from their one true source, the sun.”

Unfortunately, after doing a bit of research, I found that this is not an accurate portrayal of sunflowers. 

Rather than turn toward each other, sunflowers function best in a community, where they share a unified purpose. Their purpose being to parallelly absorb the collective energy from the sun. While they need each other for proper survival, the sun is the common denominator that brings them all together as one. 

Have you ever seen a field of sunflowers?

It may be one of the most glorious sights on earth. Thousands of bright, vibrant, cheerful heads, all facing the same direction. All with one common goal; to seek life-sustaining energy from the greatest source on earth, the sun; for which they are suitably named. 

What Sunflowers Can Teach Us About Community

How similar are we as humans?

While some may be introverted, have social anxiety, or just prefer to be alone, people need people.

We gain strength, vision, and wisdom from one another; especially when living in unity with our shared source, the Son.

Standing tall and upright in a field with so many others, relying upon the same spiritual energy and source of power that daily sustains us. We turn not to each other, we turn to our collective creator, in a unified desire to achieve a very individual purpose; to function, thrive, achieve, shine our sparkling beauty for all the world to see. 

Psalm 133:1 says: 

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!“

God desires this for his children.

All singular sizes, shapes, individuals coming together and faithfully turning to him. Divisions aside, disagreements tossed far away, He designed humans to need each other in a unified act of needing Him.  

I believe this sad sunflower is simply missing her friends.

Her calling and her desire to be fed by the sun remains strong. Yet, the added support and encouragement to thrive in a community, powered by energy and love, simply cannot be overlooked. 

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Manndi Wilkins

Manndi Maphies DeBoef works at the UMKC School of Pharmacy and as a freelance writer in her spare time. Her greatest passion is being a boy mom to her two rambunctious, creative, endearing sons, William, age 11 and Waylan, nearly 9. Her sons never fail to provide daily entertainment, which inspires many of her writings. She also loves to write about everything from being a single mom and dating after divorce to finding love later in life, the devastation of miscarriage, the loss of a loved one and starting over. Her pieces are lovingly filled with inspiration, encouragement and always a touch of humor. “Live a life others wish to read about.”

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Welcome to Salt + Sparrow, a place where we learn about Jesus, the Bible, and find big faith in small things.

Amen 🙏🏻 @hertrueworth #faithquotes #christ Amen 🙏🏻 @hertrueworth 

#faithquotes #christianmoms #truth #blessed #relationshipwithgod #prayer #christianmomma #christianlifestyle #christianity #faithblogger #christianmother #faithinmotion #faithblog #christianliving #christians #momsoffaith #biblestudy #jesusalways #faith #bibleverse #pray
Every single person you meet was created by, and l Every single person you meet was created by, and loved by God. 

Even the ones who have hurt you. 

Next time you’re tempted to act out in anger, or envy, or hurt.. stop for a moment and think.. how would Jesus behave in this situation? 

Learning to respond to others for who they are rather than what they’ve done… or the emotion their actions have triggered in you, will bring you peace and freedom. 

💛
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#faithblogger #christianblogger #christianwomen #christianlifestyle
I was recently gifted the book, Grit Don’t Quit: I was recently gifted the book, Grit Don’t Quit: Developing Resilience and Faith When Giving Up Isn’t an Option, by Bianca Juarez Olthoff. And it couldn’t have come into my life at a better time.

I think we’ve all gone through times in our life when failure has threatened to keep us down. When getting back up after yet another fall feels seemingly impossible.

And I hate to break it to you, but we will all face failure at some point in our lives. Sometimes repeatedly. But the really amazing thing about failure is that it give us options:

We can either let failure destroy our confidence and our faith and keep us from living up to our full potential.

Or we call view failure as another chance.

Embracing failure is a concept that may be difficult to adopt at first, but when we can view failure as a learning opportunity and quickly get back up on our feet, we win. It’s also a chance to turn to God and say hey.. here’s my weakness. And it’s only through our weaknesses that we can turn to God and find His strength.

So.. are you going to change the way you view failure? Or are you going to let it hold you back?

@biancaolthoff 

I'll link a giveaway for this book in stories so go check it out there!

#gritdontquit #gritdontquitbook #bookstagram #grit #christianbooks
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

"This verse isn’t promising that bad things won’t happen. It simply reminds us nothing can touch us when we live in Christ Jesus. We might experience loss and hardship, but our ultimate destination is heavenly perfection. 

So today, if you are living consumed with fear, practice surrender.

Take a deep breath and know that no matter what, you are loved and you will be ok.

God is Big Enough to hold our biggest hurts and make them beautiful." 

@mrsheidivegh 

#christianmomma #christians #christianlifestyle #faithblogger #christianmother #faithblog #faithquotes #relationshipwithgod #faithinmotion #prayer #christianliving #christianmoms #momsoffaith #truth #christianity #blessed
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Amen 🙏🏻 @hertrueworth #faithquotes #christ Amen 🙏🏻 @hertrueworth 

#faithquotes #christianmoms #truth #blessed #relationshipwithgod #prayer #christianmomma #christianlifestyle #christianity #faithblogger #christianmother #faithinmotion #faithblog #christianliving #christians #momsoffaith #biblestudy #jesusalways #faith #bibleverse #pray
Every single person you meet was created by, and l Every single person you meet was created by, and loved by God. 

Even the ones who have hurt you. 

Next time you’re tempted to act out in anger, or envy, or hurt.. stop for a moment and think.. how would Jesus behave in this situation? 

Learning to respond to others for who they are rather than what they’ve done… or the emotion their actions have triggered in you, will bring you peace and freedom. 

💛
.
.
.
.
.
#faithblogger #christianblogger #christianwomen #christianlifestyle
I was recently gifted the book, Grit Don’t Quit: I was recently gifted the book, Grit Don’t Quit: Developing Resilience and Faith When Giving Up Isn’t an Option, by Bianca Juarez Olthoff. And it couldn’t have come into my life at a better time.

I think we’ve all gone through times in our life when failure has threatened to keep us down. When getting back up after yet another fall feels seemingly impossible.

And I hate to break it to you, but we will all face failure at some point in our lives. Sometimes repeatedly. But the really amazing thing about failure is that it give us options:

We can either let failure destroy our confidence and our faith and keep us from living up to our full potential.

Or we call view failure as another chance.

Embracing failure is a concept that may be difficult to adopt at first, but when we can view failure as a learning opportunity and quickly get back up on our feet, we win. It’s also a chance to turn to God and say hey.. here’s my weakness. And it’s only through our weaknesses that we can turn to God and find His strength.

So.. are you going to change the way you view failure? Or are you going to let it hold you back?

@biancaolthoff 

I'll link a giveaway for this book in stories so go check it out there!

#gritdontquit #gritdontquitbook #bookstagram #grit #christianbooks
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

"This verse isn’t promising that bad things won’t happen. It simply reminds us nothing can touch us when we live in Christ Jesus. We might experience loss and hardship, but our ultimate destination is heavenly perfection. 

So today, if you are living consumed with fear, practice surrender.

Take a deep breath and know that no matter what, you are loved and you will be ok.

God is Big Enough to hold our biggest hurts and make them beautiful." 

@mrsheidivegh 

#christianmomma #christians #christianlifestyle #faithblogger #christianmother #faithblog #faithquotes #relationshipwithgod #faithinmotion #prayer #christianliving #christianmoms #momsoffaith #truth #christianity #blessed
God had already been speaking to me for some time God had already been speaking to me for some time about how my desire to control the details and direction of my life was getting in the way of my trust in Him and my submission to Him.

The fear of not being in control had stolen my contentment, joy, and peace. So many opportunities and relationships had been strangled or suffocated due to the struggle for control.

The Lord had been directing me to practice putting my full trust in Him.

While I used to spend much of my energy worrying and controlling, God began teaching me to put all of that effort into trusting Him instead.

Friends, as I look back over my life, I cannot think of one time that I regret surrendering to God and yielding control to Him. Was it difficult and painful? Indeed it was.

Did I take it back untold times, having to surrender again and again? You bet.

But this I’ve discovered: as we lean into our powerlessness and His sovereignty, we experience new levels of freedom and joy.

Once upon a time, I would have thought that losing control was the worst thing that could happen to me. Now I know that releasing it was what I needed most.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, help me to yield this new area of control to you– I surrender myself and all of my brokenness. Guide me and remind me each day to put my full effort into trusting You.

@jamiedesilvia 

Full post on saltsparrow.com

 #pray #faith #prayer #bibleverse #biblestudy #bibleversedaily #faithinmotion #faithblogger #christianmomma #jesusalways #faithblog #faithquotes #christianmoms #christianmother #christianlife #christianlifestyle #momsoffaith #christianliving #relationshipwithgod #christians #faithbased #momswhoreadthebible
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