One weekend several years ago, I was scrolling through social media feeling downhearted at all the divisive posts I was seeing. I woke up the next day to a beautiful Sunday morning. I checked the weather forecast to see what to wear to church and it said there would be “abundant sunshine” that day. I have seen the terms “mostly sunny” or “partial sunshine,” but never “abundant sunshine.” That forecast changed my mood that day. It made me think about the word abundant, and because I was on my way to church, I thought about the Lord’s abundance. I thought about ways I could keep “abundant SONshine” in my life. My downheartedness from the day before was replaced with hope and peace. I came home and unfollowed everything that took away from those cheerful feelings. I evaluated other areas of my life and ways I could bring myself closer to the Lord. I put up photos of sunflowers to remind me to continue to seek the Lord’s abundance in my life. Each day, sunflowers follow the sun, so they are continually pointed in its direction. I wanted to continually be pointed toward The Son.
Since that day, anytime I see the theme of abundance in the scriptures, I pay attention. Last year I read Doctrine and Covenants 104:17-18. In those verses the Lord is saying, the earth is full and “there is enough and to spare.” He then tells us we have been given agency and should take of the abundance He has made to help others. These verses stuck out to me. I thought about how the Lord has always provided for me. He has blessed me with an abundance and I reflected on how I am using that abundance. I realized I have enough…time, resources, smiles, love, listening ears, talents, kind words…and to spare. I started volunteering more and looking for ways to serve and treat others kindly.
I have also been prompted to share more “abundant sunshine” online. So often we only see the divisive and the derogatory. There is also an abundance of good and I want to be part of sharing that in hopes that one day we can look at our online forecast and see “abundant sunshine.”