Sunflowering

Last summer was hot. Super hot.  For two months the daily high was over 100 degrees, which meant that not only were were indoors almost exclusively for the first two months of our son's life, but we didn't really take care of some of the plants out in our yard. Unfortunately, one tragic victim of last year's heat was a big ol' birch tree out back.  This spring it wasn't looking so good, and while other trees were budding and grass was poking through, this birch tree rose tall and gray, casting one final wilting shadow over our back yard. We called Nate's Tree Service and after some consultation with Nate himself, we decided that the tree had to go. And in one fell swoop his crew dismantled the birch down clear down to the stump, and where it once stood there now remains only a low-spread pile of woodchips.

But we soon noticed something poking up from the organic rubble: a tall, green, leafy plant. At first we thought it was a weed, but a friend of ours suggested it might be a sunflower. So we let it be, and sure enough, a few days ago we saw the makings of a glowing golden head poking out from between the blades of a leafy bundle.

Could be a weed, a sunflower, or something out of a science fiction movie.

The very next morning, like a monarch emerging from a cocoon, the sunflower began to show its true colors.

Hello, what have we here?

By evening it had stretched and flexed to the point where it was truly living up to its namesake.

Our son mistakenly thought sunflower petals were for picking.

 And this morning, as the dark gave way to the soft glow of blue sky and glistening dewdrops, the sky, the sunflower in our yard stretched with all its might to seize the day in a glowing embrace.

Top o' the morning to you!

For a bit of perspective, here's the big guy just hanging out. Just to the left of the sunflower you can see the woodchips that used to be a birch tree. If my friend Julie were here, I'm sure she would find a way to turn this whole corner of our yard into some kind of magical garden with vegetables, flowers, and maybe even some faeries, but alas I'll probably just do my best to keep the grass mowed since that is pretty much the extent of all my yardworking skills.

Don't mind me...I'm just keeping an eye on things...

All this brought to mind a verse from the Gospel: "See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:28-29) How incredible to think that our creator, the Lord God Almighty, who has crafted blooms like this with such beauty and intricate detail, cares for us more than endless fields of flowers!