IN our gardens, in the summer, we have a pretty I little, trailing, and sweetly-scented plant, which, because of its sweet scent, people call “cherrypie,” but which the gardeners call heliotrope, This is a name made up of two Greek words, which mean to turn to the sun, and it is given to the little plant because it loves the sunshine. and will only flourish well on a bright, warm, unshaded border. Its true name is helio-trope.
The old Greeks gave this name to all flowers which followed the attraction of the sun’s rays, and turned their faces to him, from his rising to his setting. And in our own country, years ago, all flowers which do this used to be called heliotropes. One of the flowers which thus waits upon the sun, and turns its face to him continually, is the Sunflower. The poet has said of it,
“The Sunflower turns on her god, when he sets,
The same look which she did when he rose.”
You all know that the sun rises, in the morning, in what we call the east. At mid-day he is in the south. In the evening, be sets in the west. Well, the Sunflower faces east in the morning, and south at mid-day, and west in the evening. It turns its face to the sun all the day.
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is to our souls all that the sun is to the flowers. We can have no spiritual life, beauty, or usefulness apart from Him. In Malachi 4:22But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2), He is called “the Sun of righteousness.” And if our hearts are really given to Him we shall always be found looking unto Him, and following Him in faith and prayer. He will be the best and dearest friend we have. We shall think of, and speak of Him more than we do of anyone else. Spiritually, we shall be Sunflowers in God’s garden.
You know the shape and appearance of a Sunflower. It is round, like a plate. It has an edging of bright yellow petals: and it has a darker center. All over this center there are at first what I will call tiny little hairs, as fine as the point of a needle, and these are covered with a kind of yellowish dust, from which the bees gather a great deal of honey. The bees are very fond of the Sunflower, and I have sometimes seen a bee creeping over its face for many hours, until it is so heavily laden with honey that it can hardly fly away. We hope to speak more about this in another number.