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 goals and desires - one step at a time
#15351217
03/10/25 12:25 PM
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,737
crapyetr
OP
TFF Team Angler
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OP
TFF Team Angler
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,737 |
“You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.†- C.S. Lewis
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 read, "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. 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?" ~ Andie Johannson
MERCY - not receiving what you deserve
GRACE - receiving what you don't deserve
provide Sonlight
America's MESS = God's miracle fixes
I'd rather walk with God with no questions answered than to walk thru life without Him and know the answers
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Re: goals and desires - one step at a time
[Re: crapyetr]
#15351234
03/10/25 12:45 PM
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,914
Fish-ed
Extreme Angler
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Extreme Angler
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,914 |
just trying to catch a fish
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Re: goals and desires - one step at a time
[Re: crapyetr]
#15351240
03/10/25 12:53 PM
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 6,588
Wool E. Booger
TFF Celebrity
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TFF Celebrity
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 6,588 |
 Several great lessons in that story.
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Re: goals and desires - one step at a time
[Re: crapyetr]
#15351263
03/10/25 01:20 PM
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 14,744
DanXB-21
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 14,744 |
Where is this place???... I'd love to see it... Dan
"The problem with having a sense of humor is often that people you use it on aren't in a very good mood"...
Lou Holtz
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Re: goals and desires - one step at a time
[Re: crapyetr]
#15351300
03/10/25 01:53 PM
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 6,281
GTrigg
TFF Celebrity
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TFF Celebrity
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 6,281 |
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Re: goals and desires - one step at a time
[Re: DanXB-21]
#15351379
03/10/25 02:36 PM
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,737
crapyetr
OP
TFF Team Angler
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OP
TFF Team Angler
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,737 |
Where is this place???... I'd love to see it... Dan beats me; i copy/paste everything i can
MERCY - not receiving what you deserve
GRACE - receiving what you don't deserve
provide Sonlight
America's MESS = God's miracle fixes
I'd rather walk with God with no questions answered than to walk thru life without Him and know the answers
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Re: goals and desires - one step at a time
[Re: crapyetr]
#15351383
03/10/25 02:41 PM
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,737
crapyetr
OP
TFF Team Angler
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OP
TFF Team Angler
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,737 |
Originally Posted by DanXB-21 Where is this place???... I'd love to see it... Dan this has the ladies name included; try it https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/educ...ee789da-a3e8-11ed-bab2-4b865d26b784.html
MERCY - not receiving what you deserve
GRACE - receiving what you don't deserve
provide Sonlight
America's MESS = God's miracle fixes
I'd rather walk with God with no questions answered than to walk thru life without Him and know the answers
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