It is Rain That Grows Flowers

Being within Nature is worship.

Yesterday, I spent the evening strolling through alleyways, observing wildflowers, and listening to presentations about pollinators. The sun was at the beginning stages of setting. The sky a pastel hombre of baby blue and primrose pink was full of voluptuous clouds. The air was warm and dense with frequent, pleasant breezes.

The roots of trees were holding hands as they watched the sun say goodnight. The flowers were reaching up and up. Butterflies were kissing every other flower. Everything was in harmony.

Growing up Missionary Baptist, I never — and still don’t — consider myself to be a religious person. However, I see God in everything. I speak more about Nature and nurture than religion because Nature and nurture is my religion.

After deconstructing the lessons learned over the duration of my childhood (i.e. God being a demanding man that you will have a toxic relationship with throughout the entirety of your life), I know now that God is gentleness. God is love: small acts of kindness and purposeful care throughout the entirety of my day and life.

One of my most cherished things about my existence is that my name has meaning. Yulani. Rain from Heaven. Another translation: Heavenly Flower. As I age, it becomes more and more apparent that my destiny to desire to be both in and of Nature was decided for me in the womb. My purpose somehow being interwoven with the being that Nature is was something I had absolutely no control over. It’s obvious that Nature is going  to play a huge role in who I am to become, what I am to crave.

This month, I spent more days on the farm than off of it. Outside than inside. Laughing than crying. The sun and I have developed a casual relationship. I visit her everyday before bed. I’ve cuddled multiple goats, a rooster, and a bunny. I’ve seen pairs of birds dancing in the sky together.

In other words, I’ve seen so much proof that Love is alive. Proof that Love is a strong, persistent, and patient presence.

As I have developed my own belief (in which I believe everyone’s belief should be their own), it has become increasingly simpler to explain. Especially because my goal with my belief is not to crucify or convince.

There is someone that created us.

Some being that created the Earth and everything in it with such divine intentionality and supreme intelligence that nothing is the same and everything impacts everything. There are similarities in species but everything is different. Every human has different fingerprints, all snowflakes are different, every species of turtle has a different shell pattern. Everything needs everything else to survive.

The proof of this “Someone” is all around on a daily basis. As I said, I call this Someone, God. People have different names for this presence. However, a lot of us are referring to the same presence. My relationship with God works like this:

I was created in God’s and Earth’s image. Being that, I am the creator and the created. I am - alongside of Nature - the proof of God’s love. I am Nature and nurture.

In return, I get what I give. The same love and gentleness returns back to me in beautiful karma. This exchange is intentional and needed.

There is no need to convince and quarrel with people on the existence of God if you are the proof that God exists. I am here to simply be a Lover of the land and life. To live emotionally and love deeply.

I was created to plant seeds and learn the language of humans (literature) and the language of God (Nature). I was made to laugh loudly and frequently, to write these sometimes infrequent but heartfelt letters, storytell, and garden.

I see God within the weeds that sprout throughout my vegetable garden. I see Him in the wild Irises and Pale Coneflowers that bloom on the side of the road, the trees that are ancient and complex and rooted in community, the turtles that have survived many mass extinctions, the ocean and seas that make up such large parts of our planet. I see God in all the intricate detail that Nature is.

I believe your soul is as beautiful as the waterfalls that are rushing off of cliffs in North Carolina.

I believe that you have a capacity to be gentle.

I believe you have the willingness and strength to love and be loved.

- Yulani Sann

We are alike, shaped by Nature in the same mold, and whatever that signifies, it means that to spurn each other would be to spit in the face of whatever deity has seen fit to bring us together.

- A Treacherous Curse (Veronica Speedwell #3) by Deanna Raybourn