I used to get a lift to work with a friend who lived on the next street down. She would drive us the 2 miles to work every morning as I drank my coffee and attempted to wake up. I worked as a Lab technician in a secondary school and from the minute the bell went for first lesson until I left at the end of the day it was none stop. I was constantly surrounded by noise, mess and to-do lists that never seemed to get any shorter. Every morning when Barbara parked the car outside the school she would turn to me and say ‘Here again, lass. Remember the flowers, keep your face to the sun.’ As far as I know Barbara was not a follower of Christ, but every morning her little phrase was a reminder to me to keep my face turned to the Son. It used to make me smile and put me in the right frame of mind to head into the day.
A few years after I left that job I saw a vase that had Barbara’s phrase on it! I bought one for her and one for myself. Recently I bought some daffodils and plonked them in the first vase I could lay my hands on…it was that vase.
As I sat and ate breakfast looking at the vase with that phrase ‘Be like the flowers. Turn your face to the sun’ I was reminded of two bible passages.
“Why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour 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 in the fire, will he not more clothe you – you of title faith? Matthew 6:28-30.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
It feels to me like God is poking…repeatedly…reminding me that I am to be like the flowers. They do not worry about how they will look, what they will wear. I don’t need to strive and push to make God notice me. God not only notices me but loves me unconditionally, I am the apple of his eye, I am his precious daughter, he loves to clothe me with gifts and opportunities. In order to step into those opportunities and use those gifts I am to fix my eyes on Jesus, its hard to fix your eyes on something or someone without turning your face to them. A flower doesn’t change what it looks like depending on its surroundings. It may compliment the other flowers or stand out against the weeds but the actual flower looks like it does because that is what it is made to look like. I am not to get distracted by things around me, I am to throw off the rubbish that drags me down and makes my head droop. I am to be like the flowers and turn my face to the Son.
God used Barbara to get my attention and without knowing it she has turned me to God again and again.
Who turns you towards God? Do you have two or three friends who provoke you into action? Who won’t let you settle for less? Who will help you turn your face to the son?
If you already have those people in your life, then great! You have the beginnings of a Fellowship Band, so why not explore what it might look like to intentionally make time for spiritual conversation where you can get together and help lift one another’s heads to face Jesus.
If you don’t have two or three friends like, that get in touch and we can link you in with a local Missioner who may be able to help. We would love to hear from you!
Rachel is an Inspire Missioner based in England. She coordinates the Inspire Prayer Team and is the co-editor of The Beacon of Hope and the Inspire Prayer Bowl.
