Thursday, August 19, 2010

Followers
























Now for the the answer to yesterday's mystery pictures. The center of a sunflower. You can see it most clearly on my header. There are over 150 species, so the heads look different on each kind. One sunflower head can produce up to 1,000 seeds. And each seed has it's own very tiny flower around it! A whole miniscule garden in the head of one flower! According to Greek mythology, a water-nymph once fell in love with Apollo, god of the sun. But the sun god never even noticed her. The other gods took pity on her and turned her into a sunflower, so she can follow the path of the sun and never lose track of her beloved. When the sunflower looks up to worship it's beloved, it gains strength, and stands tall. In the same way, when we look up and follow the Son, we gain our strength from him and find our place in the world.

"For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless." Psalm 84:11

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24,26


Footnote - quite a few of my followers guessed what the pictures were: Grey Like Snuffie, From Melanie's Home To Yours, Jake And Ruth's Photo Blog, Crocheting In Georgis, Wildlife Watcher

26 comments:

Glenda said...

Incredible header, Ginny, and the sunflower photos are, too! Wonderful analogy with the Bible verses!

Anonymous said...

This was fun Ginny. Beautiful pictures and the seeds are such treats for the squirrels!

George said...

These are great pictures of the sunflower. You definitely had me fooled with your mystery photos.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Amazing, Ginny... Don't think I've ever seen a Sunflower blossom up close and personal. It obviously does have tons of seeds growing in each flower.

Neat post---but I'm always terrible at guessing what things are...

Hope you had a great day.
Hugs,
Betsy

SquirrelQueen said...

Gorgeous sunflower photos Ginny, they are one of my favorites this time of the year. I see your sunflowers attracted some little visitors, good catch on the bees.

From the Kitchen said...

Amazing! You really had me stumped. Ah, now I can go to bed and sleep.

Best,
Bonnie

Rose said...

loved the background of the sunflower. we have these in our yard, just beautiful.

Kilauea Poetry said...

These are gorgeous- everyone Ginny! Love the little bee. I enjoy growing them (mostly the flowers rather than the seed. We generally have dirt hauled in (not much depth) and those get top heavy. But I didn't get to grow any flowers this year but have them in the archives. I luv luv the story you included..so I copied a snippet and sent a little text to my younger son (he has a young Shepherd he named Apollo. A terrific post and the verses are really uplifting! (Thanks for your sweet note too)( hugs)

Reanaclaire said...

hahahaa.. i said it was a cactus.. that showed how much i know about flowers..

RoeH said...

What a great photo. I love all of them but the close-up in the header is incredible. Isn't nature wonderful??

DawnTreader said...

I missed yesterday's post so already knew the answer when I went back to look at it now. Not sure if I would have guessed it from just those two pictures.

srp said...

I love sunflowers... I planted a few mixed types and had some success. The birds have not yet figured out that there are seeds sitting right there for them to gather. They still want me to put them in a feeder for them. Perhaps I will take the spent flower heads and tack them to the tree by the feeder.

Annie Jeffries said...

I'm surrounded on two sides by giant sunflowers - God bless my neighbors. I've been given permission to cut the head off of one of them that has gone to seed. Thank you Bill and Judy. The birds in our feeder, not to mention ME, will enjoy the tasty treat.

Beverly said...

Lovely, lovely photos, Ginny.

Karin said...

Didn't check yesterday's post - my laptop is still in hospital, lol! LOVE those photos and your header! Absolutely stunning! Quite enjoy naturally roasted sunflower seeds too - especially on long car trips!

MadSnapper said...

you got me big time. i thought sunflower but thought no it looks like plastic. it amazes me how close up changes things so drastically. all these photos are beautiful. I love sunflowers, the are God's Smiley Faces.

Together We Save said...

Thanks so much for sharing I had never heard that tale.

The pictures are amazing!

photowannabe said...

I just finished posting a picture of a sunflower and then I visit you and see these absolutely gorgeous sunflowers.
I think they are such amazing works of art.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue ι™ˆζ΄ι›ͺ said...

Isn't it funny, our 8 year old students in their speech competition spoke on the Greek Gods.

I grew a small patch of 20 plants in Singapore. My friends came to admire. The flowers were middle size.

This link, was grown at our town hall, they were very big.

http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2008/11/sunflowers.html

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

I love the sunflower pictures.We have so many growing in the fields in our area,that I sometimes take them for granted.
I also like the idea that as this flower follows the sun so we must follow the Son to grow.
Blessings,Ruth

ruthi said...

great photos of sunflower. i love them. thanks for the additional info too... very interesting. sunflower is a very unique and versatile plant. and most importantly, you always find a great quote to accompany your post. keep it up.

Have a wonderful weekend to you and Phil.

Deborah said...

I love your header and the pictures are beautiful...
I did look at your mystery picture and I would not have guessed a sunflower!
Have a great weekend Ginny!
xxoo
Deborah

Fred Alton said...

Ginny - Amazing photos! And what a wonderful connection to the truth of God's Word. I love it.

Doris Sturm said...

Just beautiful photos of a beautiful and amazing flower :-)

Dawning Inspiration said...

I want a sunflower! I have to go hunting and see if I can find one!! Beautiful!

Rose said...

We have sunflowers in our yard . I think they are beautiful. when I look at them< I'll think about you post. thanks rose

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