The Volunteer

Anyone who has ever planted flowers is excited to see them come up, and bloom. There are disappointments when what we plant doesn't come up. What is really exciting is seeing a flower that you thought you had nothing to do with bloom.

I had spotted this little sunflower growing at the corner of our fence near where I keep the trash cans. I was careful not to set the cans on it . I didn't know what it was until it bloomed. All I knew was that something had taken root and was growing. I take no credit for what it is, since it is a volunteer. One of the birds at the nearby feeder that we have must have tossed it out, or passed it through it's digestion.

How many kids get tossed out by life or "pooped on" by the world? It is refreshing to me to see a child who has been withdrawn, backward or uncared for come to life in my Sunday School class. As a teacher, I supply the seeds that are needed. At times I feel like the lesson was simply scattered to the kids. But when you see one of them bloom, it makes all the effort worthwhile.