Sunny Banana
YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@sanibonani-y2g?si=09LymOLYjP7sE3cY
I am a school chaplain and the content is intended to encourage curiosity about Faith and it's impact on day to day life
The Sunny Banana, is a play upon the Zulu greeting, Sanibonani, meaning I see you.
As tech wrenches us from real life, we are not seeing each other. The Greek word 'idea' means to see. It is as if we have lost the idea of what it means to be human; social, communal, relational. The same word, to see, in Old English is 'seon' which has connotations of understanding.
Let's start seeing each other again, listening, respecting, and understanding each other and ourselves. After all, we are people through other people.
Sunny Banana
# 33 | When Life Feels Like A Grave, Remember You Are A Seed
When the world goes dark, it’s easy to assume the worst. We take a breath together and try on a different image: you’re not buried—you’re planted. Across a short, reflective journey, I share a monk’s wisdom, a friend’s hard-won phrase, and a captain’s call that reshapes how we carry pain, forgive enemies, and keep going when progress hides under the surface.
We start by naming the truth that growth costs something: effort, sacrifice, and discomfort. Then we explore how anxiety feeds on open loops and accusations, and why simple, clear commands—love God, love your neighbour, pray for your enemy, give to those in need—cut through the noise. These aren’t abstractions; they’re daily steps that move us from spiralling thoughts to grounded action. Along the way, I use a sports-captain analogy to show how trust changes the weight of hard instructions. If the captain loves you, the miles you don’t want to run become training, not punishment.
I also share a short prayer—Lord have mercy on me, a sinner—that steadies the heart when words fail. This humble line holds space for grief, anger, and confusion, while opening us to help we cannot manufacture on our own. From there, we look at how lift often arrives through God’s hand, a friend’s presence, or an old piece of wise advice that finds us at the right time. Like a seed in the soil, the most important growth is often hidden. Patience isn’t passive; it’s trust that roots are forming.
If you’re navigating loss, conflict, or uncertainty, consider this your quiet nudge toward purpose and peace. Press play, reflect, and share this with someone who needs a reminder that darkness can be a beginning. If this spoke to you, subscribe, leave a review, and tell me: does “planted, not buried” change how you see your season?
Sunny Bunani, welcome to the Sunny Banana. I see you. I just want to share a very short reflection for this week. And it's something that I read, and unfortunately, I can't give it any credit. Who said this? But I'm going to say in an Orthodox Christian monk. And it the saying goes something like this. When it all gets dark, you may want to think that you have been buried, which would imply that this is the end. There's no way out. However, rather, think of it as you being planted. So let me try and summarise that saying up a little clearer. When things become dark, you are not buried. You have been planted. You just need to let that saying sit there for a little while. Anything that is worth it in life requires effort, requires sacrifice, requires discomfort. A good friend of mine said the juice is worth the squeeze. The juice is worth the squeeze. And I guess my message today is for anybody, and I've met a few people this week since last I spoke to you. And I've met a few people who are going through incredibly difficult things. And there's not things that you can just say, well, you know, it will get better. It's easier said than done. But as a Christian, all things are leading to God's purpose. My suffering, my joys, my successes, my failures are all leading towards God's purpose for my life. Perhaps I'll leave you with a little analogy if this helps. In a sports team, we have a captain. And a good captain is a captain that you can trust. It's a captain that you know loves you and cares about you and wants the best for you in every game, in every situation, on and off the pitch. And that captain says that you've got to run a hundred miles. And you may think, ah. And I I sometimes, if I use Jesus Christ as my captain, Jesus will say something like, Remember that person that hurt you deeply. Pray for them. Forgive them. Love them. You know when you didn't agree about this? Or you know when you lost that loved one. Pray for them. Have faith. Keep going. And what I've come to understand being a Christian and having a relationship with Jesus Christ is that he breaks my anxiety into smithereens by these statements that these love God, love your neighbor, give to those who need. Pray, love your enemy. These are statements of command. I find the doubter, if I may say, his opposite, the devil, accuses us, and we start to question. Questions start running around in our minds and thoughts, and there's no direction. If I may offer some guidance when going through any issues or anger or difficulty, is to say, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. If you find yourself in that dark place, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. Because there you have been planted for a reason.
SPEAKER_00:You haven't just fallen into this dark pit by chance. And may you feel the hand.
SPEAKER_01:The hand of God, the hand of a friend, the hand of some loving advice you once got when you were younger or before, lifting you up into the light. Think of a seed that has been planted in the dark, dark soil. The patience of the seed, waiting, growing. We all know what a seed turns into. Lord have mercy on us. God bless you all. Sunny Bunani. Thank you for listening to the Sunny Bunana. I see you.