Please Don't Pull Up that Sunflower

Last summer I was leading a work team in a community home rehabilitation mission. It was the last stop of a long and hard day when we came to the home of an elderly woman needing some light lawn work done. We were weeding and mulching her flower garden. Beneath the bird feeder there had sprung up a volunteer sunflower. The woman of the house told me to just pull it up, it was just a volunteer. That year I had gone through some particularly difficult circumstances in my life and I had come to learn the sometimes some wonderful and beautiful unexpected blessings spring up in places and from sources we least expect. The lesson of this volunteer sunflower had not been lost to me. I asked the woman if we could leave it, explaining my observation. She said to me words to the effect, "Preacher, if you want it to stay there, then I'll keep it." I drove by a couple of more time that season and watched as that sunflower grew and flourished. Don't let its lesson be lost in your life. Look for life's unexpected blessings which can bloom and blossom even in difficult or completely unexpected circumstances.