The Daffodil Principle.....

"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
Colossians 3:17 (NKJV)
(photo source by Rodney Steele)

I recently came across this beautiful piece of writing and was very moved by its wisdom and I wanted to share it with you. I have seen such a place covered in these golden flowers. We have a mountain in our state that is as exactly as she describes. Wye Mountain is seven acres of blazing yellow daffodils when in bloom. Every spring there is a festival that is sponsored by an area church. It is a tiny stone church that sits on a hill and has a fifty member congregation. The proceeds raised from this event help to pay the minister's salary.

The planting of these beautiful blooms is an act of loving kindness, sown one bulb at a time. The result is a landscape of breath taking beauty. What will you plant today to make the landscape of our world a better place, a word of encouragement, a small act of kindness, a simple smile, a helping hand? It only takes one small deed each day to move towards the worthy goal of spreading the golden glow of Christ which makes the landscape of our world beautiful indeed!

(photo source)

The Daffodil Principle

by Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

...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, my daughter and I 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, "Begun 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....

Blessings,

Miss Sandy