The Story of the Smiling Scattered Sunshines

I always tried to make friends in high school, but nothing seemed to stick. I’m sure my classmates saw me as strange because I sewed my own clothes, put together outfits from yard sales and thrift stores and was always writing songs and poetry. There were times boys at church would throw spitwads in my hair during Sunday school or make fun of my dancing at socials. But I gave my heart to anyone who could show kindness—finally feeling some acceptance after graduation.
After High School, It was such a relief to find an environment with a stunning variety of individuals who also shared my deepest beliefs. As a college student I relished in opportunities to make everyone feel special. By the time I was about to graduate from junior college I had discovered that my academic progress was dependent on my spiritual nature and that when I spent more time taking care of those around me, I was able to get every pressing need taken care of in my life, including maintaining a high grade point average in my studies.
After listening intently one Sunday to a lesson on service, I pondered its message while singing the closing hymn called “scatter sunshine”. I decided to take the words literally by making little hand crayoned smiling sunshines with a trite little poem on the back instructing the bearer to pass it on to someone else who needed some brightness in their life. After making about a dozen, I scaled my apartment complex in search of sad or stressed individuals in need of cheer and offered them a sun or two with the instructions to pass them on.
During this time period I became more active in the musical community on campus, taking music major courses and trying out for soloist opportunities. I felt an unsettling feeling of competition which bothered me at times. But those imaginary walls seemed to come down as I handed out these happy little faces to people I didn’t even know. I discovered some wonderful individuals who would become some of my closest friends from this random activity.
Before long, even perfect strangers were coming up to me asking for more cheerful sunshines to pass out. Soon I was making hundreds every couple days and teaching others how to draw them with crayons so I could keep up with demand. It seemed like as soon as I completed a page of them, someone would take them from me to cut and pass out. I don’t know how I managed to succeed with my heavy course load of classes, but the Lord was with me in my in all the things I was striving to learn. Though I felt extremely busy, I found a great deal of happiness from this simple, child-like activity.
I didn’t know how far the snowball effect spread until I was back in my home state and my little sister asked me to attend a mission farewell for one of her friends. I didn’t know this young man at all, but apparently he was touched by one of my sunshines placed in his violin case which he discovered on a particularly difficult day. My sister turned to me as he spoke, astonished at the ripples that started with just a few crayons and some paper.
I tried to maintain the tradition after I graduated by passing them out to coworkers and classmates at future campuses. When I became a wife and mother, I always gave those happy suns to those who I visit taught and once got to incorporate the story into a lesson of my own on Sunday—thereby completing the circle that started more than a decade ago. But the biggest blessings from scattering sunshine were yet to come. And then I would truly find out that ultimately we are blessed in greater measure when we take the time from our busy lives and give a bit of ourselves to others.
After 7 years of marriage, my once faithful, spiritual, supportive husband decided he needed to be with someone else and later left the country. Facing the prospect of being alone with a newborn and preschooler, I decided to go back to school and get my teaching license so I could be on a schedule where I could still take care of my children. I looked at a variety of scholarships and started filling out their applications. I began to be grateful that I had an impressive record of involvement and grades which looked good on paper, making me sure I would get one of those academic scholarships.
The last scholarship application I looked at had me stumped—I had to write an essay about why my lifestyle is one of high moral character. “Who’s going to believe that a single mom with two kids has any virtue?” I thought to myself.
It took a professor’s nudge, to propel me toward completing this final scholarship application that seemed like the biggest longshot; but the words that needed to be written gently permeated my heart. I thought when I was younger that high morals meant staying away from vices like alcohol, drugs and premarital sex, and I did all those things, but as I got older I realized that it meant more—like helping the difficult neighbor, taking the high road in a divorce for the sake of the children, choosing not to be bitter, but kind. I decided to include the story of my sunshine scattering in closing my essay, urging them to pass along the sunshine into my family’s lives and the children that I will teach someday. Out of all the grants I deemed achievable, I was awarded this one I thought impossible, which was actually the most valuable monetarily.
When I reread my essay after getting the news, I realized I needed to work harder for those ideals in my life and continue the pattern of giving to others. After completing student teaching and embarking on starting a school enrichment program in my own home, I found that though I had little to give, I could still contribute in smaller ways. I discovered single parents with greater needs, shared my excess and used my thrifty shopping skills to help them save big on groceries and find needed items like bikes and clothes. I helped guide moms and dads who where still trying to navigate themselves while dealing with divorce and separation. These activities were a nice distraction as I latersaw my own troubles worsening.
It has been humbling when I find myself in a position of being in need rather than more able to give. I have found the most painful part to be asking for help. I get down on myself for not being able to do it all and feel guilty for receiving help when it was offered. But then I think about the sunshines I once shared liberally. What if my gifts had been refused? What blessings would never have come if I had not decided to offer more of myself to those around me? How would denying the help of others allow me to follow the Savior’s commandment to “be one”? I now see the blessings in receiving as well as giving and will use the gifts of these experiences to help pass blessings on to those in my sphere of influence.
I’m so grateful for the bright angels who have brought their light into my life in my darkest times of need. I will never be able to repay such boundless kindness, but I will give a small token with a bright smile and a grateful prayer. May those blessings lovingly given to me and others be returned in greater measure like those sunshines scattered long ago.
--Liza Zmolek Wright

Scatter Sunshine, - Lanta Wilson Smith
In a world where sorrow Ever will be known, Where are found the needy And the sad and lone,How much joy and comfort You can all bestow, If you scatter sunshine Ev'rywhere you go.Scatter sunshine all along your way. Cheer and bless and brighten Ev'ry passing day.Scatter sunshine all along your way. Cheer and bless and brighten Ev'ry passing day.