I recently read an article that blessed my life and I think I should share it with you. I pray the message in the story blesses you.
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 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, you’ll never forgive yourself, Mother if you miss this experience” Carolyn said.
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small 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 laid the most glorious sight; it looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain 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 colour variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique line. There were five acres of flowers!
“Who did this?” I asked Carolyn. “Just one woman” she answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.” 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, one day at a time she had created something of extra-ordinary magnificence, beauty and inspiration.
“What might 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?”
There is no better time than right now to start that business, to write that book, to help that child, to build that house. Stop waiting............. until your car or home is paid off, until you get a new car, until your kids go off to school, until you retire.
There is no better time than right now to be happy.
