It was like a magic trick, but in reverse. Now you don’t see them. Now you do. For several weeks they simply grew a little taller every day. The promise of a flower hidden behind a tight cluster of small leaves, the buds daily tracked the sun together. It was a slow dance of faith and hope as they turned to follow the light. Glancing their way as day turned to night, they continued to be closed up tight. Until they weren’t. As if on cue, at some point, all three of them opened. They bloomed as a collective. They bloomed in community.
I hesitate to use the term intelligent design as it can be used to suggest that there is one simple answer to the vast complexity of life. I see it a little differently. I’m married to a scientist who has spent a lifetime seeking answers. And the beauty of his work, the glory of his work, is that every answer ultimately led to more questions. Like the sunflowers, his research was a slow dance of faith and hope as he continued to follow the light that led to more answers that led to more questions that led to more answers. A never ending seeking of the light, which sounds like anything but a simple answer, and also, a lot like intelligent design to me.
The sunflowers hint at the possibility of a Source we can never prove but from which all of life somehow originates. They seem to innately know a few things that matter. We are here to grow. Together. We are here to turn towards the light. Together. We are here to bloom and offer what we have to the world we inhabit. Together. Somehow, that wisdom, that knowing, that intelligence, is hardwired into these three sunflowers, and, into us. We may have forgotten that. But it is never too late to remember. We may have buried that beneath an avalanche of pain and heartache. But it is never too late to heal from our wounds, turning them into the scars that remind us of how far we have come. We may have isolated our selves from one another. But it is never too late to turn towards one another. We may have chosen to live in the darkness. But it is never too late to turn to the light.
Which sounds like anything but a simple answer, and also, a lot like intelligent design to me.
