“And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the lilies of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.”  Matthew 6:28-29

The lure of thousands of sunflowers

Drew us to this place

This field of flowers

Their giant stems towering

Faces all turned in the same direction

Sunward

The high heat and torrential rains of the past week

Finally beginning to wilt the bright yellow petals

Surrounding each bee-filled center like a golden halo

The flowers drooping slightly on their stems

As if in apology

The sun burns our heads and backs and faces

High in the sky not much past noon

We could not wait for a gentler sun

The flowers are falling too quickly

The girls are laughing

Their laughter mirrors the brightness of this place

Together they give one another confidence

Picking wildflowers in the heat

Too hot to stay out long

A messy bouquet of riotous color

Messy and beautiful

Like the teens whose pictures I am taking

I want so much for them to keep their joy

In this world that so desperately tries to steal it

For them to know they are beautiful

In a world that is trying to compare them to everyone else

Created in the image of God

A masterpiece