07/05/2026
SUNFLOWERS – PRONOUNCING A BLESSING
"From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised."
— Psalm 113:3
The poet Mary Oliver loved sunflowers. She once called the sun "the best preacher that ever was," and in her poem Sunflowers, she invites us into a field where these great flowers quietly practice their daily sermon.
Every morning, they turn their faces toward the light.
There is something holy about that.
Sunflowers are among my favourite "inventions of summer." Their bright blossoms seem almost joyful, but they are also practical—feeding birds, attracting bees, producing seeds by the thousands. They remind us that beauty and usefulness belong together.
Psalm 113 also begins with the daily journey of the sun. From sunrise until sunset, the whole day becomes an invitation to bless God.
Perhaps blessing begins with paying attention.
When the sun rises, we awaken to possibility. We receive another day as a gift. At sunset, we release what is unfinished, give thanks for what has been, and entrust ourselves to the night.
Like the sunflower, we slowly learn to orient our lives toward the Source of light.
Of course, some days this is easier than others. There are mornings when our hearts are light, and praise comes naturally. There are other days when grief, anxiety, disappointment, or fatigue make it difficult to notice God's presence.
Yet blessing is not simply an emotion. It is a practice.
To bless is to choose, again and again, to turn toward the One who has never stopped turning toward us. It is to look for grace hidden in ordinary moments. It is to trust that even when clouds cover the sun, the light has not disappeared.
This week, notice one "invention of summer."
A sunflower. A bee. The warmth of the breeze. The laughter of children. Let it become your reminder that God is still pouring life into the world—and into you.
And just like the sunflower, may your face turn toward the light today.
Adapted from Janice MacLean, wwww.prayerbench.ca “Inventions of Summer.” Used with permission.
The Sunflowers by Mary Oliver
Come with me
into the field of sunflowers.
Their faces are burnished disks,
their dry spines
creak like ship masts,
their green leaves,
so heavy and many,
fill all day with the sticky
sugars of the sun.
Come with me
to visit the sunflowers,
they are shy
but want to be friends;
they have wonderful stories
of when they were young –
the important weather,
the wandering crows.
Don’t be afraid
to ask them questions!
Their bright faces,
which follow the sun,
will listen, and all
those rows of seeds –
each one a new life!
hope for a deeper acquaintance;
each of them, though it stands
in a crowd of many,
like a separate universe,
is lonely, the long work
of turning their lives
into a celebration
is not easy. Come
and let us talk with those modest faces,
the simple garments of leaves,
the coarse roots in the earth
so uprightly burning.
Mary Oliver, Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (New York: Penguin Press, 2017), pp. 360-1.
