Life sometimes feels like a flower holding its breath in anticipation of sunshine.  It’s as though the night is the hardship and stress we all feel, and the day to come is the promise of a better season.

And sometimes the night seems to go on forever, to last an eternity.  Yet the bleak torment must eventually give way to sunrise.

It’s simply a matter of patience and perseverance.

Before sunlight spilled over the trees on the eastern shore of White Rock Lake, these plains sunflowers (a.k.a. petioled sunflower or prairie sunflower; Helianthus petiolaris) began their methodical turn toward daylight.  They would spend the rest of the day following the sun’s progress across the sky.

Floating atop the still waters of Big Cypress Bayou, this water lily (Nymphaea sp.) held its bloom in anticipation of sunshine slowly creeping over the trees on the opposite bank.