FOLLOW THE SON

                                      FOLLOW THE SON


Faith lesson:  Follow Jesus, the Son of God in All Things
Garden Lesson: How Sunflowers follow the sun to grow tall and strong.
Supplies needed: Sunflower seeds of a dwarf variety such as Teddy Bear; potting soil with fertilizer added; water; clay pots for planting; paints for decorating the pots. Ideally these should be placed in a sunny location outside, but a sunny window will do as well.

    When Jesus started His ministry, He gathered twelve men around Him to follow on after his death and resurrection. How did He invite these men to join Him in His work? He said, “Follow me.” Nothing fancy, nothing big and glorious. Just, “Follow me.” But what a powerful command. What did it mean to those twelve young men, and what does it mean for us, today?

    To follow Jesus means to FOLLOW JESUS. It means that we do what Jesus did to grow into the man He became, and we live by his teachings in all things. Jesus read Holy Scripture all His life. This is how He knew what His father wanted Him to do in His own ministry. Jesus is the Light of the World. That means that we need to always keep in sight of that Light or we will be n darkness.

    In this lesson we are learning about how sunflowers grow turning throughout the day to always keep their faces to the sun. Our faith lesson is to listen to what Jesus said and do just that.  We follow the Son throughout our day so that we will not be in Darkness. When we have choices we have to make, we turn to scripture to find what our Father in Heaven would want us to do, just as Jesus did. Then we follow the Son just as the sunflowers follow the sun so that we always keep our hearts and our minds to the Light. That way we grow big and tall in our faith just as a sunflower grows big and tall in our gardens.

    I am sure that you have seen a sunflower before, but did you know that there are hundreds of different kinds of sunflowers? There are varieties that will grow as tall as twenty feet, and then are varieties that only grow to about eighteen inches and can be grown in pretty pots on our porch or windowsill.

    First, I want you to look at the seeds you have. If your teacher has chosen a dwarf variety to plant your seed is probably only about one-fourth of an inch long. A small seed doesn’t always mean a small plant, though. Tomato seeds are very small, yet some tomato plants can be twenty or thirty feet long. You will notice that the seed has a round end and a pointed end. The pointed end is the end we will push into the soil, first.

    All plants will turn towards the light as the sun follows its path through the day, but with sunflowers this growth is much easier to see. The plant is turning its head towards the sun to gather as much energy as it can to grow the biggest and healthiest plant it can be. As your plants are growing through the season, I want you to visit them at different times of the day to see how your plant turns to face the sun.

    Planting your seeds is very easy. First, you want to put potting soil into your pot after you have decorated it as you wish. Add water slowly until it starts to run out the holes in the bottom. You will need to keep adding water until the soil is moist throughout, but not soggy.

    Next take your seeds and plant three or four POINTED END DOWN into the soil about an inch deep or up to your first knuckle. Push the soil into the holes to fill them up. Next add just a little more water over the holes to push out any air pockets there might be. Place your pot in a sunny location and watch your plants grow. You will want to water about every week. Don’t water too much, or the plants will die.

    Follow the Son and you, too will grow into something truly beautiful and wonderful to see.