Yesterday morning I was walking to class in the Bryan Center when I passed by the miniature garden by the Duke Chapel. As I approached it, I was awestruck at the sight of every single flower wide “awake” and leaning toward the sun. These flowers know something about life… Of course they get their nutrients from the soil, they get their water from the sky, and they are pollinated with the help of insects, but they know that without the sun, none of those things are of any good use.
The sun is the author and finisher of every process that occurs inside of that flower. Knowing this, it stretches itself toward that light wanting to soak in as much as it could possibly receive in the 12 hours that the sun can be seen. And when the sun goes away… it closes up (look at them in the evening, you’ll see it). But in the morning, just like a morning glory, it is made alive again in the presence of the sun.
I want to be like the tulip. I want to come alive in the presence of the SON like the morning glory. He is my source. He is the author and finisher of my faith and the designer of my life. Without Him, everything that I have (education, money, friends, fame, talent, and even family) are vanity. For this reason, I reach for Him alone. I know that only He can make sense of all of these “nutrients” that I take in and make them work for my benefit and the benefit of my “seed,” my future, my legacy, and my children (physical and spiritual).
This isn’t something that is “okay for [me].” Without the SON, all that you have are the “raw materials” of life, but you don’t have LIFE. Ask me and I’ll be glad to introduce you to Him.
