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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, and 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 mountaintop. 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 (indescribable) 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 35 or 40 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?"
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 is
watching.
If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this on
to someone special. I just did! |
