Lifted Up

The daughter is squeezing out fresh limes for lemonade. Carrot soup bubbles on the stove and a fresh loaf of bread has just come out of the oven. Stomach growls, mouth salivates.

‘Mum?’ the daughter captures her attention away from the growls.

‘Hmm?’ she answers, her hands covered in suds.

‘All those years when I was swimming, I used to pray and ask God to help me race well, but I never actually dedicated my swimming to Him. I realise now that’s what I should’ve been doing.’

A picture forms in her mind. A sunflower with its face looking down, focused on itself. Help me, bless me, help me win.

Another sunflower replaces the first. Its face lifted to the sun, its petals stretching out. This is for you Lord, all for you.

She smiles at the sunflower daughter beside her.

‘That’s a really beautiful revelation darling, changes your perspective, a looking up rather than looking in,’ she says.

She thinks about the son and the other daughter, both heading into important, life directional exams. All for Him, she whispers in their ears. Lifted up, dedicated, all for Him.

That gorgeous flower, so open and bright, doesn’t matter if it wins or loses, doesn’t matter if it passes or fails. It’s bathed in the warmth of the sun and its beauty is there for all to see. Its free from the shackles of ‘have to or I’m not enough’. It’ll grow and learn with a strength deep down and a face that is radiant.

That sunflower daughter teaches her things. She lifts her own face. This is for you Lord, all for you.

‘So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.’ 1 Corinthians 10:31