Spring has
about arrived here in the south. We were out walking around
yesterday and noticed all the buttercups and daffodils blooming
along the road and trails. What a beautiful site! Seeing these
reminded me of the story about the Daffodil Principle. I have shared this
before, but it is always popular this time of the year and I hope you
enjoy it. What a
marvelous principle!
The 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 peak 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.
Enjoy the
beauty of the day!
Much love
from the East Tennessee mountains where the daffodils are blooming
now.
Thanks, Larry!
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