Keep Your Face Towards the Son

I recently saw an interesting quote by the poet, Walt Whitman. “Keep your face always towards the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.” This simple truth had never occurred to me in any cognizant way. When you face the sun, you never see the darkness behind you. How many times have I faced the sun without noticing that!

While researching the background of the Whitman quote I found a similar quote by Helen Keller, “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.” I guess I haven’t paid much attention to sunflowers either. I knew they looked like the sun but I had no idea they followed the sun! Helen Keller was an amazing woman who lost her sight and hearing following an illness at the age of 19 months. How did she know what the sun looked like? Where did her understanding of shadows come from? What caused her to know how sunflowers behaved?

I was reminded of my trip last summer to Door County, Wisconsin. Among the many sights we saw was a field full of huge sunflowers. As we walked toward them, their stalks stood healthy, straight, and strong with their bright, cheerful faces greeting us. As I reflect on that moment, I now realize the sun was to our backs … the sunflowers were standing at attention and following the sun.

An image developed in my mind of turning my face toward God’s Son, Jesus. When I keep my eyes on my Savior, I leave the shadows of my past behind me. Psalm 103:12 in the New Living Translation says, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” My past is behind me, my future with Jesus is before me, and my sins are forgiven. I have no reason to revisit those shadows and sins again.

I thought once more of Helen Keller. Although she was blind she still had the ability to “see” in her mind things she had never seen in the physical sense. As I looked at the example of the sunflowers with spiritual eyes, I was reminded of the song, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”. When my eyes are on Him, I am transformed by the Spirit of God and I reflect His goodness.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

The past year has been difficult and many are searching for peace and understanding. I can only encourage my brothers and sisters in the faith to take the hand of a struggling soul, leave our shadows and sins behind us, and turn our faces towards the Son.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)