Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come 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 so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad 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.

“I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.”

“How far will we have to drive?”

“Just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”

After several minutes, I had to ask, “Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the garage!”

“We’re going to my garage the long way,” Carolyn smiled, “by way of the daffodils.”

“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 that said, “Daffodil Garden.”

We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and 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 down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns-great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

“But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn.

“It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.”

Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house that looked small and modest 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 very little brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”

There it was, The Daffodil Principle. 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 mountain top. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable (indescribable) 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 a 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.

The Real Garden: http://www.geocities.com/thedaffodilgarden/facts.htm

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A woman came out of her house and saw three old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said, “I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat.”

“Is the man of the house home?” they asked. “No”, she said. “He’s out.”

“Then we cannot come in”, they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. “Go tell them I am home and invite them in,” he said.

The woman went out and invited the men in. “We do not go into a house together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she wanted to know. One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.”

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. “How nice!” he said. “Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!”

His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?” Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!”

“Let us heed our daughter-in-law’s advice,” said the husband to his wife. “Go out and invite Love to be our guest.”

The woman went out and asked the three old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.” Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other two also got up and followed him.

Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, why are you coming in?” The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!”
(N.O.)

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A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the apple of their eyes. One morning, when the boy was around two years old, the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for work so he asked the wife to cap the bottle and put it in the cupboard. The mother, preoccupied in the kitchen, totally forgot the matter. The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to it and, fascinated with its color, drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages.

When the child collapsed, the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was stunned; she was terrified. How would she face her husband? When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just four words.

What do you think those four words were?

The husband just said, “I Love You Darling”.

The husband’s totally unexpected reaction is proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he would have taken time to put the bottle away, this would not have happened. No point in attaching blame. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.

Sometimes we spend time asking who is responsible or who’s to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know and miss out on the warmth in human relationships we could receive by giving each other support. After all, shouldn’t forgiving someone we love be the easiest thing in the world to do? Treasure what you have. Don’t multiply pain, anguish and suffering by holding onto forgiveness.

If everyone could look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be fewer problems in the world.

Let go of all your envies, jealousies, unwillingness to forgive, selfishness, and fears and you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think.

unknown

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Once upon a time, there was a poor farmer in China who used an old horse to plow his field. One afternoon, the horse dropped dead, and everyone in the village said, “Oh, what a horrible thing to happen.” The farmer said simply, “We’ll see.” He was so at peace and so calm, that everyone in the village got together and, admiring his attitude, bought him a new horse as a gift.

Everyone’s reaction now was, “What a lucky man.” And the farmer said, “We’ll see.”

A couple days later, the new horse jumped a fence and ran away. Everyone in the village shook their heads and said, “What a poor fellow!” The farmer smiled and said, “We’ll see.”

Eventually, the horse found his way home, and everyone again said, “What a fortunate man.”
The farmer said, “We’ll see.”

Later in the year, the farmer’s young boy went out riding on the horse and fell and broke his leg. Everyone in the village said, “What a shame for the poor boy.” The farmer said, “We’ll see.”

Two days later, the army came into the village to draft new recruits. When they saw that the farmer’s son had a broken leg, they decided not to recruit him. Everyone said, “What a fortunate young man.” The farmer smiled again – and said, “We’ll see.”

We are not in control of the world. Often what looks like a setback or a difficulty is actually a helping hand from the Divine. And often, only with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight can we see that everything happened to help us along the path for the mission determining why we are here in this world. So the next time, something supposedly bad happens to you, say, “This, also, is for good,” and expect that one day you will understand why.

(Author Unknown)

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To live a meaningful life – day by day, minute by minute – may seem daunting. How can one possibly focus amidst all the distractions, problems, and emotions? Even when you are satisfied with your past accomplishments, how can you continue to grow? How can you break out of old patterns and begin to look at life anew?

By isolating your problems and addressing them one at a time. As the sages say, “When you grasp for everything, you end up grasping nothing”. Since each day is a lifetime, you must focus on the day before you, not on yesterday or tomorrow, and utilize its opportunities to the fullest. Make each day’s “routine” to start by concentrating on the purpose of your life. It may be tempting to change your life all at once, but slow, steady progress is always more effective than a “crash course.” Remember, even the longest journey can only be completed one step at a time.

Many of us have learned to view each day as an “inconsequential sidestep” that is disconnected from any larger journey. But the secret to any journey is to fix your eyes on the destination and to keep traveling steadily towards it. Veering off the path, even for a short time, is at best a loss of time and at worst a source of confusion which makes it even more difficult to get back on track.

This is Rex Barker C.S. (Completing Steps) remembering that in the journey of life, your body is the vehicle, but your soul is the compass! By following its voice you remain focused on your destination…and each step… day by day…brings you closer…How you live today determines how you will live tomorrow…the very next thing you do…no matter how small…will determine the rest of your day…and ultimately the rest of your life.

Rex Barker

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“If I am not for myself, who is for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”
- Ethics of the Fathers

We all reach a point in our lives when we realize that if we don’t take responsibility for ourselves, no one will. We also learn to be responsible to our families and friends, and to those in society who are less fortunate. How far should these responsibilities go and how should we prioritize them? Why do we feel the need to be responsible in the first place?

The answers lie in the fact that we were created for a divine reason – to actively pursue a virtuous life and perfect this imperfect world. Responsibility is a basic human need, just like food or oxygen; we cannot fulfill or justify our existence without it.

Responsibility is not something that we should accept reluctantly out of guilt or duty; it is a necessary and healthy component in our lives.

Our first responsibility is to ourselves, for we can hardly hope to civilize the world at large if our own life is out of sync. We are all responsible for our own conduct and cannot blame anyone else for our decisions or actions. We cannot blame our teachers or our parents, our employers or our leaders. Nor can we blame God for making life so difficult…He wouldn’t have placed it in our path without also providing us with the abilities to overcome any obstacle. “If He brings you to it…He’ll get you through it!”

This independence is the greatest manifestation of human dignity. You, and you alone, are responsible for what you make out of your life. Of course, certain people will always need to be cared for – children, obviously, and adults who are unhealthy or incapacitated. We must also recognize that every single person, from a special needs child to a handicapped adult, has deep inner resources that must be cultivated to the fullest. So we are responsible for the welfare of others and for society as a whole.

This is Rex Barker C.S. (Choosing to Serve) reminded that we have all been given a choice – to see life as it truly is, with each human being connected to the next, all linked in one large cosmic destiny, or to be consumed with self-interest. It is not the result that counts; it is our effort, and the sincerity behind the effort, that fulfills our innate need to be responsible. And ultimately… every effort does bear fruit.  Rex Barker

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There was a king who was a great admirer of art. He encouraged artists from all over his country and gave them valuable gifts. One day an artist came and said to the king, “Oh King! Give me a blank wall in your palace and let me paint a picture on it. It will be more beautiful than anything you have ever seen before. I promise you shall not be disappointed.”

Now, the king happened to be constructing a big hall at the rear end of the palace. So he said, “All right you may work on one of the walls in the new hall.” So the artist was given the job and he was very pleased indeed.

Just then, another young man said, “Oh King! Please allow me to work on the opposite wall. I too am an artist.”

The king said, “What would you like to make?”

The man said, “My Lord, I shall make exactly what that man will make on the opposite wall. Moreover, I shall do so, without looking at his work. I would even request you to have a thick curtain put up between the two walls so that either of us cannot see the other.” Now, that was a tall statement. Everyone in the king’s court, including the king and the first artist were intrigued. But the king loved surprises and he decided to give the young fellow a chance.

The following day a thick curtain was put into place and both the artists got to work. The first artist brought in a regular supply of paint, oil, water etc. The second one would come with a cloth and a bucket of water every day. After a month the first artist told the king that his work was complete and he would like to show it to the king. The king sent for the second artist and asked him, “Young man, when would your work be ready? I am coming to see the first wall this evening.”

The man said, “My Lord, my wall is ready too!”

The king went to see the first artist’s wall. He was very, very impressed with the painting and gave a hefty sum as a reward to the artist. He then asked for the curtain to be opened up. Lo and behold! The same painting was to be seen on the opposite wall too! Amazing! But true! Each line, each minor detail was exactly as it was on the first wall. But this man had not been seeing what was going on, on the other side of the curtain. So how had he done it? The king wanted to know the secret.

He gave a double reward to the fellow. Then he said, “Young man, I am indeed very happy with your work. But you must tell me; how did you do it?”

The lad said simply, “It’s very easy! I just polished the wall every day!”

It was a wall made of white marble! The fellow polished it till it shone like a mirror. The reflection of the painting across the room, showed up in it! That is what it means to polish yourself. For when we polish our hearts and souls, we see God’s reflection within. It is said that the world is a reflection of you. Whatever you are, the world will seem to be that too. If you are sad, jealous, dejected, angry, restless … that is what the world will seem to be! If you are happy, the world will seem to be paradise.

You decide how you want your world to look…

So the question is what are you reflecting?

(N.O.)

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A man came home from work late again, tired, irritated, and stressed, to find his six year old son waiting for him at the door.

“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, sure, what is it?” replied the man.

“Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?”

“That is none of your business! What makes you ask such a question?” the man said irritatingly.

“Oh, I just wanted to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?” pleaded the little boy. “Well, if you must know, I make $20.00 an hour.”

“Oh,” the little boy replied, head bowed. Looking up, he said, “Daddy, may I borrow $10.00 please?”

The father was irritated. “If the only reason you want to know how much money I make is so you can borrow some for a dopey toy or other nonsense, then off to your room and think about your selfishness. And besides, you’re only six years old, and six year olds don’t need money. I work long, hard hours every day to earn money for you and your mom, I don’t have time to talk about loaning you money.”

The little boy went quietly to his room and shut the door.

After about an hour, the father had calmed down, and started to think he may have been a little hard on his son. Maybe there really was a reason he needed to borrow $10.00, he had never asked before for money. The father went to the boy’s room and knocked on the door. “May I come in?” inquired the father.

“Yes, Daddy,” replied the little boy.

“I have been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier,” said the man. “It has been a long, tough day and I took my anger out on you. Here’s the $10.00 you asked for.”

The little boy sat up straight and beaming said “Oh thank you Daddy!” Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some crumpled up dollars. The father seeing that the boy already had money started to get angry again. The little boy slowly started to count out his money, then looked up at his father.

“Why did you want more money if you already had some?” the father grumbled. “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied.

“For what,” said his father.

“Daddy, I have $20.00 now. Can I borrow an hour of your time?”

It’s just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Share this story with someone you like….but even better, share time with someone you love.

-Author Unknown

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There once was a wise sage who wandered the countryside. One day, as he passed near a village, he was approached by a woman who told him of a sick child nearby. She beseeched him to help this child.

So the sage came to the village, and a crowd gathered around him, for such a man was a rare sight. One woman brought the sick child to him, and he said a prayer over her.

“Do you really think your prayer will help her, when medicine has failed?” yelled a man from the crowd.

“You know nothing of such things! You are a stupid fool!” said the sage to the man.

The man became very angry with these words and his face grew hot and red. He was about to say something, or perhaps strike out, when the sage walked over to him and said: “If one word has such power as to make you so angry and hot, may not another have the power to heal?”

And thus, the sage healed two people that day.
(author unknown)

“Language does have the power to change reality. Therefore, treat your words as the mighty instruments they are – to heal, to bring into being, to nurture, to cherish, to bless, to forgive.” – Daphne Rose Kingma

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A cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. “Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please!”

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face. “A dollar ninety-five. That’s almost $2.00. If you really want them, I’ll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday’s only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from grandma.”

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere–Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny, “Do you love me?”

“Oh yes, Daddy. You know that I love you.”

“Then give me your pearls.”

“Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess– the white horse from my collection. The one with the pink tail. Remember, Daddy? The one you gave me. She’s my favorite.”

“That’s okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night.” And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny’s daddy asked again, “Do you love me?”

” Daddy, you know I love you.”

“Then give me your pearls.”

“Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my babydoll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper.”

“That’s okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you.” And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian-style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. “What is it, Jenny? What’s the matter?”

Jenny didn’t say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And, when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, “Here, Daddy. It’s for you.”

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny’s kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of beautiful genuine pearls. He had had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her genuine treasure.

So what are you holding on to?  What if something better was in store for you?

Love,
MJ

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