Friday, October 19

Botany for Beginners

Please Read Luke 27:22-34


I'm not sure who learns more in the average homeschool day: me or the kids. Not true. Most days it's me. Learning to slow down and breathe a little instead of trying to cram knowledge into the minds of the uninterested.


One subject has us all fascinated this week though. Botany. Specifically how plants know to turn toward the sun. We all know they do it, but I found the how particularly noteworthy this week.


Plant stems are full of these little chemicals called auxin. Auxin tell the plant to look for the light. While the auxin are in charge of the stretching of the stem, they don't live on the side of the plant facing the light. They live on the dark side of the plant. All the growth happens in the shadows. Since shadows move, the auxin twist and turn the stem so the tip is always facing the light.


"Consider how the wild flowers grow..."


I am watching a friend walk through some shadows right now. Dark, scary stuff. But as I watch, she is turning toward Jesus.






Our Heavenly Father uses the dark times in our lives to stretch us, to grow us up until, we are looking full in the face of the Son. He's at work in the shadows.