[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: A Daffodil Day

Thu Mar 18 14:43:24 UTC 2021

From: Larry Perry [mailto:larryperry at performancepress.ccsend.com] On Behalf Of Larry Perry
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2021 8:10 AM
To: mmoore11 at kent.edu
Subject: EXT: A Daffodil Day

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Letter from Larry

Wednesday

March 17, 2021

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Good Wednesday Morning Everyone:

Spring has about arrived here in the south. We were out 

walking around yesterday and noticed all the buttercups

and daffodils blooming along the road and trails. What 

a beautiful site! Seeing these reminded me of the story 

about the Daffodil Principle. I have shared this before,

but it is always popular this time of the year and

I hope you enjoy it.

What a marvelous principle!   

             The 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. 

Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day! 

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will 

never begin. 

Enjoy the beauty of the day!

Much love from the East Tennessee mountains where the 

daffodils are blooming now.

May God Bless You and your loved ones!

Much love.

Larry 

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