Innate Beauty

 

Every year, the University of the Philippines plants rows and rows of sunflowers, calculated to bloom in time for the graduations. The idea is to plant one flower for each graduate, I guess symbolically. What a wonderful tradition!  It enables flower-loving folks like me to feast our eyes on the sea of standing green stalks and yellow "faces" peering out at the sun. The sunflowers remind me of people who stand tall, and who have an openness that invites light to come closer.

 

 

When you look closely at the center of the flower, you will notice the intricately ordered design of the dots.  What you see may amaze you. You may  realize that something like this just doesn't happen by accident.  That there is an order to created things that is natural and not man-made. That the order may not be visible from afar - when you look at the sunflowers from a distance, you might hardly notice the patterns. But when you really look, you will notice that the symmetrical design has a natural beauty of its own.  Just like when we really look at a person, only then can we come to appreciate the innate beauty that is always there within. All sunflowers carry such symmetry, just like all of us persons carry much innate beauty. 

 

I also love how the numerous yellow petals emanate from the center of the flower and point outwards. They are securely attached to the base, so that hardly a petal falls to the ground by itself.  How I wish we could all be like one of these petals, securely attached to the center, and connected to each other so that no one falls away alone. Banded together, but pointed outward with an open stance that invites people to gaze at the center. The petals, when taken as a whole, comprise a beautiful flower.

 

The sunflowers bloom in good timing with the Lenten and Easter season. Graduations happen around this time, making sunflowers a more apt Easter bloom than lilies, which we hardly see anywhere.
 
Our God, who went to great lengths to show us His love for us through His passion, death and resurrection, is the very same God who planted an intricately beautiful center within each of us. As we celebrate the joy of Easter, we can also celebrate the joy of being His special creation.

Happy Easter!

 

 

 

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