Do it now...
THE DAFFODIL
PRINCIPLE....
Several times my daughter had telephoned to
say, "Mother, you must
come 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 so I drove
there. When I finally
walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted
my grandchildren, I said,
"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible
in the clouds and fog, and
there is nothing in the world except you and these
children that I want to see
bad 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.
"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to
pick up my car."
"How far will we have to
drive?"
"Just a few blocks,"
Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm
used to this."
After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where
are we going? This isn't the
way to the garage!"
"We're going
to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled, "by way of
the
daffodils."
"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
that read, "Daffodil Garden."
We
got out of the car and each took a child's hand. I followed Carolyn
down the
path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and 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 down over the mountain peak and
slopes. The
flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns: great ribbons
and swaths of deep orange,
white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and
butter yellow. Each
different colored variety was planted as a group so that
it swirled and flowed like
its own river with its own unique hue.
There were five acres
of flowers. "But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn.
"It's just one woman,"
Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her
home." Carolyn pointed to a
well kept A-frame house that looked small and
modest 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 very
little
brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."
There it was,
The Daffodil Principle. 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 mountain top. Still, just planting
one bulb at a time,year
after year, had changed the world.
This unknown woman had
forever changed the world in which she lived. She
had created something of
ineffable 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 a 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.
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?"
. . . . . Author
Unknown
We convince ourselves that life will be better
after we get married,
have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that
the kids aren't old
enough and we'll be more content when they are. After
that, we're frustrated
that we have
teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they
are out of that
stage.
We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when
our spouse gets his
or her act together, when we get a nicer car, when we are
able to go on a
nice vacation, or when we retire. The truth is there's no
better time to
be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will
always be filled
with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and
decide to be happy
anyway.
Happiness is the way. So,
treasure every moment that you have and
treasure it more because you shared
it with someone special, special
enough to spend your time
with...and remember that time waits for no one.
So, 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 lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until
you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
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.
If you
want to brighten someone's day, pass this on to someone special... I
just
did.
So did I ...AW |
