Feild of Sunflowers

Back in 6th grade my room was decorated head to toe in sunflowers...wallpaper, bedspread, furniture, curtains. I went overboard. Don't know what the draw to them were. I do recall a popular perfume that all the 6th grade girls were wearing called 'Sunflowers' which I actually still have some remnants of under my sink. I spritzed it on a few months ago randomly...don't know how long perfume stays good but I feel like it smelt the same as it did 16 years ago.

I teach a class of 3 & 4 year olds. I get a new batch of kiddos every week and we study a particular country. A couple weeks ago we talked about Holland where Vincent van Gogh was born. He painted sunflowers and one of our projects for the week was a canvas painting/collage to replicate van Gogh's masterpiece. It was a process using clay, dyed coffee filters with watercolors & eyedroppers, tissue paper vases, oil pastels, and modge podge....and lots of direction. They all had their own original touches as all artists and people do.

I sometimes make treats for the kids receptions on Fridays to reflect our theme. Last week koala bear cupcakes for Australia and this time Sunflower cookies with chocolate centers. That week I was also inspired to make some sunflower pops to stick in cupcakes.

Sunflowers have kept popping up since then in random places and have been on my mind so today I looked them up on the Internet to further understand these bright rays of flower species and to satisfy my strange and recent images.

SUNFLOWER: "What is usually called the flower is actually a head (formally composite flower) of numerous florets (small flowers) crowded together." The outer florets are the yellow part and the inner florets mature into seeds. They are arranged in a spiral pattern by the 'golden angle' 137.5 degrees which then layout a pattern of spirals of the Fibonacci numbers....which are a sequence of numbers by which the two numbers previous add up to produce the next number like 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21 and so on. This makes the most efficient packing seed arrangement and a really cool design.

I look at this design and see God's fingerprints all over it. The detail, the shapes, the finite precision of lines. It's immaculate. A bunch of small flowers inside a big flower. Genius. So I look at and see this...we are all these seeds in the middle of this bigger flower. God and all creation are the bright yellow pedals...the big picture. We are all clustered around each other with a specific purpose, a specific design, a specific Fibonacci location in life, at specific angles on earth at all times. God's most efficient packing system...most effective and glorifying design.We are the maturing seeds. Maturing, being sanctified daily by the Holy Spirit to grow to be more like Christ. Jesus is the starter seed, at the center of everything, the very beginning. The Fibonacci sequence of who we are and our existence can't start without Him. He is that initial seed which is watered within us after we are aware of Him and what He did for us on the cross. And we are in the middle of the bright yellow pedals, the bigger flower. As we mature we look more and more like the big picture of Jesus...the big bright sunflower.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was god. He was with God in the beginning. through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." ~John 1: 1-4.

So when I see a feild of sunflowers...I know all of those grew out of One seed even though I can't see it under the dirt I know it's there...and because of that seed, I can see the feild of sunflowers. I can see the glory of God, the big picture because of that seed....Jesus.

"We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father full of grace and truth." ~John 1-14

If we know the Lord Jesus Christ we should be walking around like big sunflowers. Our brightness should be a reflection of His pedals. We were asked the other night by Robert what Jesus means to each of us...how we would describe Him. For me...He is in the details. He is the center. The focus of everything in my path and being. The glue that holds everything together, the bridge to God and truth, the first stroke of a design, the beginning number of the Fibonacci sequence, the inspiration for van Gogh's paintings and my cookies. Everything points to Him and He is connected to everything. I mean everything...even Sunflowers!Think about it next time your spitten' out sunflower seed shells into a cup or sprinkling them on your lunch salad :)

Freedom Weekend

Another 4th here and gone, but not without a little delight in the mix.

FRIDAY:

I never get to see firework shows. I always have these grand plans to see them and it never pans out. A flat tire leaving Lubbock made us miss the show in San Marcos. Had to work at the river another time. And the list goes on. I'm lucky if I get to hold a few sparklers. Last Friday night I was driving back from Dallas late and I happen to see big burst of fireworks lighting up the sky as I kicked it down the highway. One after the other. As I pulled towards my exit about 20 cars lined the shoulder of the highway with their emergency lights flashing. I zipped in right between them, parked, laid back my seat, and watched the show over the lake.  Pop pop pops blasted in the blackness above. The finale. ah. It was a little hug from God that night. An unplanned firework show in person...away from all the crowds...reflected in the lake water...in the quietness of the spontaneous moment...minus the gusts from the 70mph cars swaying Dottie (my suv).

SATURDAY:
Off to Glen Rose with Kylee. We picked the location last minute from a suggestion my brother had given me. We were headed to Dinosaur Valley to go hiking for the day. About an hour + 1/2 outside of Dallas. Bananas, camera, map, bible, Gatorade and water lined our backpacks. Arriving we stopped at a gas station...which inside was actually a bakery where they made cakes and pastries. Small towns. I chuckled. Making wedding cakes inside a gas station...why not? You can get $20 bucks of unleaded gas and a birthday cake...sweet deal.

Off to Dino Valley. We get a map and park. It mists a little on us, but feels good from the humidity that was seeping into our day. We set out and walk down a trail that leads to a river. Surely we don't cross the river to get to the trails? Yep. A nice man whom has been hiking these parts before and his dog Shamrock told us the way. We took off our shoes, held hands to keep from falling from the rocky and slippery terrain, and made it victoriously across the river.

Pick a trail, any trail, red, blue, orange, white. the paths were marked by colors...usually painted on a tree or a prominent rock all along the way. We started off with white which took us up into the hills and by a couple steep drop offs. I get dizzy at even being close to an open edge so we veered off to another direction (Thanks Kylee for understanding and coaching me on.) It was peaceful and nice to be active. The rains came in sporadic spouts and it was lovely. Just enough to keep us cool and refreshed. Crazy flying insects, cobwebbs, cacti, fireants, sweat and mudd. Gotta love nature.

We got confused with our map and at that moment our previous friend appeared and pointed us to the right trail. We walked down a rocky path with stones. I said to Kylee, "this makes me think of the Matthew parable about a seed falling on a rocky path." We thought about the other seeds being thrown on the path where the birds ate it quickly, onto the thorns and thistles where it gets chocked out, and onto the good soil where it produces good crop....the one on the rocky path is on little soil and gets scorched by the sun. We couldn't remember all of it, so I busted out my bible and we read it as we walked down the rocky pathway. Hiking through live examples of God's word.

"When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. this is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word but worries of this life and the deceitfulness  of wealth choke it making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on the good soil is the man who hears the worked and understands it. He produces a crop yielding a hundred, sixty , or thirty times what is sown."
~Matthew 13:19-23

We made our way back to the river, took our shoes off again, crossed it holding hands, and got back in the car. We went to the sight of the park where there were dinosaur tracks. Not too impressed with what we saw...but we had to check it out since were were in Dinosaur Land. Afterwards we headed to the historic Glen Rose square and got a coffee from the Jitter Coffee House and inside I found a vintage lamp for sale. It was huge...green glass bottom, and a shade that was half the size of me...and cheap! I'm redecorating my room and I had found a gem. The owner said she got it at an estate sale in Plano, Tx. Did not expect to come home with a lamp and a sunburn. "I love Lamp." Leaving the square we listened to my GPS Carla to direct us. Recaclulating. Recaculating. Echoed in the background as I contiuosly took my own scenic path and ignored Carla's voice. She led us to Grace Street. I of course without missing a beat, put the car in park, jumped out of the drivers seat and took a snapshot. This is God's roadmap. STOP and take the narrow street of GRACE in life through Christ...a little reminder. We ended up back at that cake shop gas station and I got a caramel Blondie coconut pastry, $1.50. YUM. Back on the road....Dallas bound.

SUNDAY:

I made a 4th of July dessert. I call it:

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT SURPRISE

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control." ~Galatians 5:22-23

• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• vanilla pudding
• whipping cream
• lady fingers
• vanilla wafers
• gram cracker crust
• butter
• powdered sugar
• sweetened condensed milk
• Cool whip

HAPPY 4th of JULY!