Welcome to Kennemer Counseling. You may be wondering, "What's up with the sunflowers?".

I have been an admirer of sunflowers since I saw them growing by the cellar at my

grandmother's house. She explained that they follow the sun throughout the day, always

keeping their face to the warmth and feeding of the sun.

Many years later I recalled this as I was driving past a vast sunflower field to and from my job as an elementary principal. In the morning, I saw the entire sunflower field facing me as I drove toward the field, and in the late afternoon I saw the sunflower field facing me again as I traveled home after another busy and emotional day. Little did I know that the field of sunflowers would give me such inspiration.

The elementary principal job was one of my most difficult positions as I had to face daily

moments of having more to do than I could possibly get done, outbursts from students,

parents, and teachers, and tearful hellos and goodbyes as students and families came and went

through the system.

This school was extremely low socio economic and 52% of the students

were being care for by someone other than parents. My heart broke daily for the kids as they

struggled with missing their parents, learning gaps, and having enough to eat and often a place

to sleep.

I struggled to find social services and educational services for the numerous issues,

and this began to take its toll by the end of the year. I was just about ready to accept that I was

not the answer to the issues this school was experiencing, and then the answer came on the

drive home.

I have to admit I was crying while I was driving home thinking about students and their

situations when I approached the sunflower field. Something just told me to pull over and take

a better look.

There they were……all those tall, beautiful sunflowers all facing the sun receiving

that warmth.

I got out of the car and felt the sun, stopped crying, and just began praying. I

stood there for a while thinking about how a time laps picture would look of the sunflowers’

movement throughout the day facing the sun, always facing the sun.

I knew then that my answers to the school issues were not in my total control. My answers could be found in “The Son” where I would find warmth, love, and feeding for my soul. Yes, I want to wrestle issues down to the ground and find the solutions, but I must resist that and seek the master of all answers, Jesus.

He is “The Son” who shines on my face each day feeding my soul. I want to always turn my face to Him just like the sunflowers to the sun. I want to be a “Sonflower” who seeks Jesus all day every day with my face following my savior.