O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you. As the day rises to meet the sun.
These are the opening words to morning prayer in one of the devotional resources I use. It’s a great prayer for the beginning of the day, asking God to awaken us to God’s presence as we step into the first sun-lit moments of our waking hours.
Twice this week as I was driving to a meeting, I was greeted by a field of sunflowers. This picture is of a field along M-66, just north of Six Lakes. I saw an even larger field in Grand traverse county a few days later. both brimmed with the attentiveness and optimism that sunflowers bring. Young sunflowers move their blooms to follow the sun during the day. Once the heads have matured, they stay fixed to the east. both of these actions help the plant to achieve maximum growth. Click the picture below for more fascinating details about this.
It’s a great metaphor for us. From the moment of our waking until we rest our heads and turn ourselves over to the restorative power of sleep, we are at our healthiest as we stay in orientation to the Son: as we immerse ourselves in scripture, in kind and loving conversation and action with other people, in singing praise.
Often, I am reminded to pay attention to God by the world around me. Those sunflowers called me to prayer and praise twice this week. I hope they will do the same for you!
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you. As the day rises to meet the sun.
+Bishop Julie
