We often travel to Texas to spend weekends with my parents in Bonham, Texas.
One beautiful autumn day, My mom couldn’t wait to take us to a graveyard about eight miles outside of Bonham. None of our family members were buried in this graveyard; Mom’s motivations were not about grief. Once we arrived and saw the huge sunflower field lining the drive of a small graveyard, I understood Mom’s excitement.
What a brilliant idea.
Have you ever seen a graveyard watched over by sunflowers?
How could one focus on grief when struck by the tremendous number of these beautiful, majestic flowers? My grandchildren did not even notice the headstones; they went straight to the flowers instead.
When my grandchildren ventured out into the field, I snapped these priceless photos of them. To me, their gentle facial expressions are visual evidence of children’s pure, divine, joyful nature!
I feel a bond with sunflowers.
I know these flowers offer more than beauty.
My first memories of sunflowers came from my childhood when I romped in my grandfather’s massive gardens, picking and eating berries with my cousin, Melissa. In one of his gardens, my grandfather also grew giant sunflowers. So beautiful and so much larger than me!
Later in life, I learned these flowers offer more than beauty. These flowers are teachers. All of creation can teach us something valuable if we are willing to explore symbolic insights.
Sunflower Symbolism
Face the Light
A woman told me that she believes sunflowers are Mary Magdalene’s secret symbol.* Because, like the sunflower, Mary’s face always followed the light—the Son. The sunflower’s face always points toward the sun; it bends yet is firmly planted in the earth, willfully moving to face the source of light.
*I am not sure if what the woman shared with me about Mary Magdalene is accurate. I included her statement because it illustrates the point.
Beauty Can Transmute Toxins
On a practical note, scientists believe that the sunflower transmutes toxic waste. After Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Project Sprout planted sunflowers to remediate the soil. Can you imagine the amount of waste that floated onto land in the debris after Katrina? Wow, the practical, long-term solution was to plant sunflowers. It seems that not only are sunflowers beautiful, with delicious nutty seeds, they literally heal the earth. This flower removes environmental toxins to make soil healthy again.
This intentional planting of sunflowers after disasters is not a new idea. Before Katrina, sunflowers were planted after the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl and in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami at Fukushima.
At the graveyard next to the two-lane highway in rural Texas, a place designed for the living to remember what they have lost, instead of sorrow, I can marvel at what I have found. That field of sunflowers reminded me of my childhood, carelessly picking berries, and of the great insight that beautiful flower has the power to transmute toxins, especially when facing the light.
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” —John 8:12 NIV
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