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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 01 2008 : 12:33:37 PM
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a friend from greensburg, KY sent this to me .. AND .. we have a beautiful daffodil hill right here in Green County . .i will be sure to travel to see it tomorrow!
THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE
________________________________
From: snlala@nctc.com
To: ;
Subject: Fw: THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 10:50:28 -0600
Subject: THE 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 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.
If you want to brighten someone's day,
pass this on to someone special.
I just did!
Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!
Don't be afraid that your life will end,
be afraid that it will never begin..
True Friends * Frannie
HEAR MY STORIES
come, visit my:
"GATHERING ROOM" ..
http://freedomvalleyfarm.blogspot.com
adopt a 'rag-chile'
http://sistermercysfoundlinhome.blogspot.com
treasures .. new and olde .. up for adoption:
http://mudpiemanormercantile.blogspot.com
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The DAFFODIL Principal
