Smiles for God from a Sunflower and You

Book excerpt: God’s nature never ceases to amaze! While touring Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home in Indiana, I took a photograph of sunflowers. When the photograph was developed, its negative showed one flower with a smiley face. I was inspired to write the poem “Divine Reflections.” The poem is condensed and illustrated for children to enjoy. I hope parents will interact with their children as they read the book together, explaining the illustrations and discovering the analogy of being a reflection and having a divine purpose in life. A smile lights up the world. I have watched as senior adults look at a smiling child with expressions of delight on their faces. There is beauty in nature and beauty in children, who are all special creations of God. In the process of illustrating this book, I included my children and myself as a means of having something to pass on to future generations. It was a “God thing” on my tenth illustration when paint thinner was purposefully splashed on the canvas to make a different background effect; the splashes look like little sunflowers and an image of Jesus’ face appears below the wilting sunflower! See if you can find him! Thanks to Bishop Lindsey Davis of the Kentucky United Methodist Conference for including my book on his list of the Top Five Recommended Books for the annual conference.