Sunflowers – a Reminder of Hope
Hanging on Too Tightly
14 January 2022Sunflowers can bring beautiful reminders of hope.
Do you enjoy looking at sunflowers? I do! They remind me to anticipate the future and look for the good to come.
I think Hope is like that too.
Over the summer I decided to grow sunflowers for the first time. Little did I realize that it would remind me of the journey of finding hope.
They are my favourite flowers and I wanted the biggest blooms ever, so I thought about what I needed to do to facilitate the right environment for the flowers to thrive.
First, I needed to till the soil and add some fertilizer to prepare that good foundation for the seedlings. Once the seeds were planted in a safe, strategic place with lots of sunshine all I had to do was keep that ongoing nurture going: nutrients, water, and light.
Deep underground this beautiful plant grew roots as it prepared for its upcoming stages of development.
“we require a good foundation and environment within which to survive, thrive, bloom and grow to reproduce the good we find in the journey”
Before long bright, green growth began to push through the heavy dirt–tender sprouts emerging, growing stronger each day–drawing sustenance from its nurturing environment reaching for the sun as it gained strength to keep growing.
As each flower bloomed and matured, they produced a myriad of beautiful seeds. Several birds and squirrels began eyeing the beautiful blooms. At first I shooed them away until I realized that the seeds produced in the flowers’ growth were designed to nourish and replenish others and to also be used to reproduce more beautiful flowers that are able to bloom in the future.
It made me realize that we are no different than the sunflowers. We too require a good foundation and environment in which to survive, thrive, bloom, and grow.
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- receive hope
This blog is an invitation to come, sit a while, and read stories of hope and reflect on your own story–consider how wholeness and hope can be welcomed in new ways into your life.
For you see we are not so very different from one another.
Our circumstances may differ from each other’s–but as we face life crises, challenges, and suffering we must remember that suffering is a universal human experience. No one is immune from it.
The best thing about stories is how we can learn from one another’s stories, journeying side by side as we find wholeness along the way.
We are always stronger in community for we were designed to heal and be whole within community.
“Stories help us imagine ourselves in another’s journey and can inspire us to gain new perspectives and hope in our own journey…”
Stories help us uncover new life-giving truths inspiring us to consider the next chapter of our own lives and make room for hope to bloom.
Stories help us imagine ourselves in another’s journey and can inspire us to gain new perspectives and hope in our own journey.
This is an invitation to sit a while and read stories of hope, reflect on your own story, and consider how wholeness and hope can be welcomed in new ways into your life too.
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Fern E. M. Buszowski
MALM, MA Counselling (CPC)
Speaker | Author | Thriving Cancer Survivor
Bringing words that encourage hope, faith, and love through the journey of life.
www.hopeblooming.ca
