Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over. It was a two-hour drive but she promised her daughter and reluctantly drove through the fog. However, when she was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. She delightedly hugged and greeted her grandchildren and quit her moaning.Forget the daffodils, she told her daughter. 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! Her daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, mother. We're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks." Her mother was anxious and begged to turn around, but her daughter drove and reassured her that she would never forgive herself if she missed this experience.
The family turned onto a small gravel road and saw a small church. On the far side of the church, a hand lettered sign with an arrow read, "Daffodil Garden." As the kids got out of the car, grumpy grandma took a child's hand, and followed her daughter down the path. As she turned a corner, she looked up and gasped. Before her 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 and swirling patterns.
On the patio, they 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 this mother, that moment was a life-changing experience. She thought of this woman whom she 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 ... with the help of God.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who look back and wonder what they might have accomplished if they had thought of a goal and worked "one bulb at a time" through all the years? Instead of regret, why not simply "start today."
