Sunflowers

Meditation for Monday, August 1: Claim something in nature as your own.

My maternal grandmother and I have claimed two recurring events in nature as ours: the first is a certain kind of rain that comes on a wind in summer, and the second is an almost brashly bright, moonlit night.

When I visit her there will be times when she will say, "it is our kind of rain today," or, "look up and see our moon." I feel such profound love from her in these moments.

We do not claim the rain or the moonlight as owners of objects to consume, rather, we claim them as lovers of beauty taking in the sacred.

Vincent Van Gogh, known for the fierce energy of his paintings, once said,

"The sunflower is mine, in a way."

Van Gogh's paintings are a testament that sunflowers and the night sky were so deeply his. In claiming them as sacred for himself,  he then gave them back to the world in a way only he could.

I would challenge you to claim something in nature as Van Gogh did sunflowers. When we take in something beautiful and sacred as though it is ours alone, the experience connects us to the eternal. Whatever happens in us as a result of that connection, we can return to others. If the world is indeed broken, perhaps this is one way that we can begin to repair it.