Sunflower Seed Lessons

Sunflower seeds...

I love eating sunflower seeds. I love the salty dexterity of the shell and the entertaining process we undertake in order to reap the small benefit inside. 

There is a distinct hilarity and irony around the sunflower seed. The more we eat, the more our lips and fingers become chapped from the salt. And yet, we continue because there is something utterly addicting about eating sunflower seeds. I dare you to eat just one. It is a literal impossibility. 

I myself, have been eating them all day at work today. It causes the time to go by a little faster as I preoccupy myself with more than just routine. 

And yet, as I crack each sunflower seed, I am left wondering if this is the process of refinement that we each must go through. Do we each have a shell surrounding our true selves? Does God carefully crack and remove the hard exterior that we often put up as a way to guard and protect from the harsh realities that this world sometimes aims our way?

Through each experience and refining moment in our lives, God carefully removes our hardness with love to bring forth our true character and our true selves. Sometimes this process can be difficult and painful. Sometimes it takes many experiences and many cracks for God to loosen the shell we may have built up around ourselves. 

But we must let our shells be cracked. We must let our vanity, love for money, control, pride, and selfishness to be demolished by the grace and love of Jesus Christ. If we fail to let go...then we will never learn what it means to be truly authentic...to be the child God created each one of us to be...to truly grow as He would have us grow...and to fully give our lives over to Him for His purpose and His glory.

And so, I will continue to crack open sunflower seeds as a reminder of the refining process that I must undergo everyday. I must let go. I must let God do the work that He so desires. I only want to glorify and honor Him. And so...I continue forward - knowing that more cracks are on the way as God continues to refine.

Lord - please continue to refine me. Please continue to break down my hard exteriors and make me into the daughter you created me to be. I know it may hurt. I know it may be difficult. But Lord, I want to know you more and I want to serve you selflessly. Teach me the best way you know how.