{"id":3021,"date":"2022-12-23T15:44:50","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T15:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/?p=3021"},"modified":"2026-10-09T18:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T18:26:16","slug":"be-a-sunflower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/?p=3021","title":{"rendered":"Be A Sunflower"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Psalm 92:13, “Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunflower season is in full swing around this time! I keep seeing them in all the autumn decorations, passing sunflower fields; I even had some cut sunflowers on my table. This has kept sunflowers fresh on my mind, and the more I keep thinking about them, the more I realize that I want to be a sunflower.

1. Sunflowers follow the sun.<\/strong>
1 Corinthians 11:1 \u201cBe ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.\u201d
It is a well-known fact that sunflowers face the sun. Throughout the day, a sunflower follows the sun across the
sky; they are constantly readjusting to be directly facing the sun. As a result of always facing the sun, sunflowers are also constantly growing and stretching to reach the sun. As a Christian, I want to be always facing the Son. I want to be so sensitive to the moving of the Son that I can be constantly readjusting to be directly facing the Son, and I want to be constantly growing and stretching myself to get closer to the Son.

2. Sunflowers are named for their sun-like appearance.<\/strong>
Romans 12:2 \u201cAnd be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.\u201d
Instantly recognizable for their bright yellow petals arranged around the center of the flower, sunflowers were named because of their uncanny resemblance to the sun. I want to be instantly recognizable as a Christian! I want people to look at me and say, \u201cShe MUST be a Christian!\u201d I want to arrange my outward appearance to be undeniably Christ-like.

3. Sunflowers are known for being \u201chappy flowers\u201d.<\/strong>
Nehemiah 8:10 \u201cThen he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto
them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0is your strength.\u201d
Many people call sunflowers \u201chappy flowers\u201d because their bright petals, and sun-like appearance. Some people even say you can\u2019t be sad around a sunflower. I want to be known as being a \u201chappy person\u201d because I\u2019m a Christian. I want my spirit to be Christ-like. I want people to know that there is joy in serving Jesus! When circumstances may be grim, I want to shine Christ\u2019s love and the wonderful Gospel news to everyone around me. I want people to know that the joy of the Lord is my strength!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Katlyn Merrit | Pastor’s wife
Upstate Baptist Church | Delmar, NY
https:\/\/www.upstatebaptistchurch.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psalm 92:13, “Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.” Sunflower season is in full swing around this time! I keep seeing them in all the autumn decorations, passing sunflower fields; I even had some cut sunflowers on my table. This has kept sunflowers fresh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"0","layout":"no-sidebar-narrow","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"float","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"0","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_food_recipe":[],"enable_food_recipe":"0","food_recipe_title":"","food_recipe_description":"","food_recipe_serve":"","food_recipe_time":"","food_recipe_prep":"","food_recipe_level":"","food_recipe_keywords":"","food_recipe_category":"","food_recipe_cuisine":"","food_recipe_yield":"","food_recipe_calories":"","enable_print_recipe":"0","ingredient":[{"item":""}],"instruction":"","jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_podcast_option":{"enable_podcast":"0","podcast_duration":"","upload":""},"jnews_podcast_series":null,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,28,24],"tags":[180,842,943,945,944,54,317],"jnews-series":[],"class_list":["post-3021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-the-yp","category-youth-truth","category-yp-wife","tag-god","tag-katlyn-merritt","tag-pastors-wife","tag-sunflower","tag-upstate-baptist","tag-youthtruth","tag-yplife"],"featured_image_src":"","blog_images":{"medium":"","large":""},"ams_acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3021"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5839,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021\/revisions\/5839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3021"},{"taxonomy":"jnews-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fjnews-series&post=3021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}