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A daughter-in-law sent me this story and immediately I was
relating it to my life and Calhoun County:
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must
come to see the daffodils before they are over “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 her house I was
welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children
“Forget the daffodils! 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,”
She said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this. 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.” 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. Each different-colored variety
was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own
river. There were five acres of flowers.
“Who did this?” I asked. “Just one woman,” my daughter 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, where 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. 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.”
This 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 brighten her own 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. Her daffodil garden taught 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 .
“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!” I said to my
daughter.
My daughter summed up the message of the day. “Start
tomorrow.”
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...
This is the day to make up your mind to do it--pray, care, volunteer.
Be remembered for making a positive difference in your family and your
neighborhood--just a little bit each day.
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