Daffodil Principle

Daffodil Principle
 
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say,
'Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.'
 
I wanted to go, but it was a
two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead   'I will come next
Tuesday', I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

 

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove
there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful
sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

 

'Forget the daffodils, Carolyn!  The road is invisible in these
clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these
children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!'

 

My daughter smiled calmly and said, 'We drive in this all the time, Mother.'
 
'Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!'
 I assured her.

 

'But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's
just a few blocks,' Carolyn said.  'I'll drive. I'm used to this.' 

 

'Carolyn,' I said sternly, 'Please turn around.'
 
'It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this
experience.'

 

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel
road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand
lettered sign with an arrow that read, ' Daffodil Garden .'  We got out
of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path.
Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most
glorious sight.

 

 
It looked as though someone had taken a great
vat of gold and poured it over the mountain and its surrounding slopes. The
flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths
of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and
 butter yellow. Each different colored variety was planted in large
groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique
hue. There were five acres of flowers.
 
 
'Who did this?' I asked Carolyn.  'Just one woman,' Carolyn answered. 'She lives
on the property. That's her home.' Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame
house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up
to the house.
 
On the patio, we saw a poster. 'Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking',
was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. '50,000 bulbs,' it read.
The second answer was, 'One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and
one brain.' The third answer was, 'Began in 1958.'
 
For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had
never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time,
to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one
bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the
world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of
extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her
daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

 

 
 
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often
just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use
the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small
increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent
things. We can change the world .

 

'It makes me sad in a way,' I admitted to Carolyn. 'What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one
bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been.
able to achieve!'

 

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her
usual direct way. 'Start tomorrow,' she said.

 

She was right. It's so
pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a
lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, 'How can I
put this to use today?'

 

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....
 
Until your car or home is paid off  
 
Until you get a new car or home
 
Until your kids leave the house
 
Until you go back to school
 
Until you finish school
 
Until you clean the house
 
Until you organize the garage
 
Until you clean off your desk
 
Until you lose 10 lbs.
 
Until you gain 10 lbs.
 
Until you get married
 
Until you get a divorce
 
Until you have kids
 
Until the kids go to school
 
Until you retire
 
Until summer
 
Until spring
 
Until winter
 Until fall
 
Until you die...

 

There is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
So work like you don't need money.

 

Love like you've never been hurt, and, 
Dance like no one's watching.
 
Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!

 

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that
it will never begin.

 

If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this
on to someone special.   I just did.