There is Sunshine In My Soul

“A merry heart doeth good like medicine…”

-Proverbs 17:22

           

In 1890, There Is Sunshine in my Soul Today was first published in a collection of songs untitled The Finest of the Wheat. 128 years later, the cheerful words and message of the hymn still inspires.

In Robyn, this hymn inspired art. The painting that grew from these words was something new. Robyn had never painted a sunflower onto music before. Her first attempt wasn’t quite right. The petals were too small – the flower covered about a fourth of the page. Robyn decided she would paint large petals.

There is springtime in my soul today…

Vibrant orange and yellow spread across the music.

For when the Lord is near, the dove of peace sings in my heart…

The final result was a large sunflower spreading it’s petals to the corners of the page.

            The flow’rs of grace appear.

 This hymn is a joyous one. It speaks springtime, music, and sunshine - of the happiness to be found for those who have the peace of Jesus Christ in their lives. I asked Robyn what she felt about this hymn. She told me it was hard to express at the time because it was snowing outside. Robyn’s family had just come from three days of sunshine. (Spring in Utah!) Now that it was gone, they were feeling a bit let down. Robyn didn’t think she was telling me how she felt about this hymn – but I think she did.

            Sunflowers follow the sun. They are always facing the light. I don’t think it is a coincidence that this flower is the one Robyn painted onto this hymn. When dark clouds come into our lives, we can follow the light. We can follow a light even stronger than the one the sunflowers are forever seeking.

            There is sunshine in my soul today,

More glorious and bright

            Than glows in any earthly sky

For Jesus is my light.

            It isn’t luck that a hymn penned over a hundred years ago still inspires. It reminds us that even in the darkest skies, we can have the ultimate sunshine in our souls

~By Jenny, info about the hymns found in "Our Latter-Day Hymns- the Stories and the Messages" by Karen Lynn Davidson