Sunflowers - Mignon

             Picture courtesy of Brett Sayles · Boise, ID, USA

 As a child, one of the first flowers I remember was sunflowers. They were all around where I grew up. I would see one growing alone across the street in a vacant lot, or I'd see whole fields of them from the backseat of the car. They were everywhere in my small world. I probably didn't pay much attention, but they were always there.  I remember them as the last flower to give up when winter came, and the first to begin to grow in the spring. A teacher in a Relief Society lesson once suggested that every woman should have a symbol for her that would be a guide and focus in her life. It must have been in the Fall when sunflowers were blooming because as I looked at some growing in my yard, they were so familiar and comforting, my light bulb turned on. There is my symbol.  It is a bright, happy flower that blooms and thrives wherever it finds itself. The most amazing thing about sunflowers is that as the day goes on, they follow the sun. After my husband died and my years alone went by, my gratitude for that symbol became more focused. My plan for my life is to follow the SON, My Savior Jesus Christ. Family and friends have picked up on my love of Sunflowers. My home has Sunflowers everywhere. My thoughts always turn to my Savior Jesus Christ when I see them around me."