Seeds

I found these sunflower heads in a pail today...

My Edster is harvesting the seeds for next year.  And it got me to thinking...about the lessons of seeds.  Look at them!  Perfectly placed for their own perfect purpose.  Randomly designed?  I don't think so!  So let's reflect...what can they teach us?

Confession is the act of inviting God to walk the acreage of our hearts. “There is a rock of greed over here, Father. I can’t budge it. And that tree of guilt near the fence? Its roots are long and deep. And may I show you some dry soil, too crusty for seed?” God’s seed grows better if the soil of the heart is cleared. - Max Lucado

Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant—a seed—this plants the giant miracle. - Ann Voskamp

Every adversity, every failure, every heartbreak, carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit. - Napoleon Hill

There are in this world blessed souls, whose sorrows all spring up into joys for others; whose earthly hopes, laid in the grave with many tears, are the seed from which spring healing flowers and balm for the desolate and the distressed. - Harriet Beecher Stowe

Seeds must be sown everywhere. Only some will bear fruit. But there would not be the fruit from the few had the many not been sown. - Chaim Potok

The tiny seed knew that in order to grow, it needed to be dropped in dirt, covered in darkness, struggle to reach the light. - Sandra Kring

See a flame in a spark, a tree in a seed. See great things in little beginnings. - Richard Sibbes

Fading Friday Finds

As summer wanes and we begin its last hurrah as Labor Day weekend begins, I peered out the sliding glass doors to the backyard. Picking up my camera, I head out to the two large mounds of sunflowers...

And I find that my glorious sunflowers are fading fast...

Their golden petals stripped away...and the bumblebees no longer find the pollen they crave...

But their busyness has reaped a harvest...

A harvest gleaned by the goldfinches as they pull the seeds out one by one...

Setting them on the top of the sunflower head or a large leaf where they have time to savor their find...

And even the squirrels devoured the heads full of seeds, like this one, that they chewed off the plant for their own feasting...

And yet...in the middle of these fading blooms of sunshine...I find one still in all her glory...

I am grateful...

It's been a glorious summer!

A Curly Texture Tuesday and Muse

I saw this sunflower from the side in our backyard...

Two words came to my mind immediately...

Do some processing...add a Kim Klassen texture...insert some text...

There ya go!

Sunflowers are SO fun!

Random Discoveries for Friday Finds

Life took precedent over last Friday, but the week that followed brought multiple discoveries, revelations, reminders, finds...gifts from the loss of my mother.  So grateful!

1.  The remainder of the life I have left is a gift...do what is important...NOW!

2.  People care much more than you ever realize...reach out for help!

3.  Be faithful always...consistent with your beliefs.  Repeated right choices, though small, speak loudly!

4.  A Christian mother is invaluable and impacts many generations.

5.  When it all boils down to gravy...only what is eternal is what matters.

Showers of Mercy

We have been in a moderate drought this summer...like a lot of the country, we have had weeks of heat and little rain.  Monday, however, was a treat...it rained all day and I came home to water drenched sunflowers.  The rain was such a gift to a very thirsty and parched Ohio.

Thank you for indulging me with my sunflowers again today...although the focus is the rain, paired up with quotes about the same subject.  Once my volunteers are gone, it will be a year before they come by again.

 

Perhaps this one is soaked with joy...

 

This one is rain-kissed!

 

This flirt is being seductive...

 

This one has such a plain ole practical attitude...

 

And this one is a little subdued!

I love my sunflowers and am grateful for God's gift of a day of refreshing rain.  We take so much for granted.

With gratitude,

 

Evening and Morning Mercies

Under the bird feeders in the backyard (we have some on the side, too)...we noticed a bunch of sprouts sticking up from the ground early June.  Quickly to realize these were volunteer sunflowers from the bird feeders that have been scattered by our foraging feather friends, he mowed around them and what a Gift!!!  I know folks who deliberately plant them that have trouble...and look what God did on his own!

So let me share with you my 100-plus sunflowers with you...and may it brighten your day!

 

Of course, they are swarming with pollen pleasure junkies..especially bumblebees...but they almost seem grateful and are so not bothersome.

 

But the glow that comes from the backlight off the petals is amazing!

 

And they are so bright that I had to mute the colors in a lot of these photos!

 
When looking for quotes, there was a poem that stated about a sunflower, And she bares her round bosom before the sun.

 

This one is a pretty new bloom...you can tell by the inner circle of the center being so tight and there are a few beads of moisture on them.

 

And then I looked at the glory of just the petals...fascinating! Crazed with the love of light!



I found my camera would not stop clicking...and time became meaningless as I was so enchanted by these golden glories.

 

But with so many outside, I had to cut a few and bring their splendor to the living room.  The bees did not seem to mind and the flowers seem to feel privileged to have this place of honor.

This, by far was my favorite quote:

Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it.  Such a lesson in life...

- Helen Mirren, from The Calendar Girls

So look for the Light today...He's there...you'll see!

With gratitude,