A few weeks ago, my husband and I were walking our dog in Celebration FL and passed by an old sun dial in a park. I stopped to look at it and was surprised to see that it was inscribed with the words, “Count only sunny hours.” Surely this is a good instruction for how to tell time on a sun dial, but isn’t that a perfect instruction for life? We should only count the sunny hours. This is not to discount the dark hours of grief and loss that we experience in life. To pretend that we are never hurt or disappointed would be disingenuous and serve no purpose. But it is in those darkest moments that we need to shine light, if for no other reason than to see our way out.

Isaiah 43 (New Revised Standard Version)
Do not remember the former things
    or consider the things of old.
¹⁹ I am about to do a new thing;
    now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.
²⁰ The wild animals will honor me,
    the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness,
    rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
²¹     the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.

We look to God, the creator and giver of all light, to help lead us out of dark days. When he sent his son to be the Light of the world, he gave us the ultimate and permanent way out. God provides the sunny hours to encourage, uplift, and recenter us after the hard ones.

Psalm 18 (New Revised Standard Version)
It is you who light my lamp;
    the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
²⁹ By you I can outrun a troop,
    and by my God I can leap over a wall.
³⁰ This God—his way is perfect;
    the promise of the Lord proves true;
    he is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

Count Only Sunny Hours