Article December 17, 1955 Issue

LESSON FROM A SUNFLOWER

MARIA SCHLOZ

Original article in German

Recently I had a beautiful experience, one which I had occasion to ponder afterward. It was that of watching and observing a sunflower which was growing in a meadow opposite my house. It was growing there wild and unwanted, but because it asserted its right to exist so freely and so purposefully, it was left to grow. A storm raged almost continuously for days. Gusts of wind buffeted the flower from every direction, bending it back and forth. It seemed as though the sunflower's steadfastness and stability were being put to a severe test.

The stalk, probably about eight feet high and crowned with an enormous flower, always bent with the storm. It swayed backward and forward, righting itself again whenever the wind subsided for a moment, only to be struck the next moment by a new gust of wind and forced to bend again, but not to break. The leaves of the plant rose and fell like wings, conforming to the motion of the wind.

This observation helped me to understand the words of the Master (Matt. 5:39), "I say unto you, That ye resist not evil." Because the sunflower did not resist the onslaught of the storm, it survived. The storm did not harm it. Are we not often fearful, unbending, rigid, when confronted with that which seems alarming? Do not men often forget that they will be in no danger if they but humbly know that they are one with God, upheld by Him?

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