It’s Only Too Late If You Don’t Start Today
In the mountain community of Running Springs, located 6,000 feet above sea level in the heart of the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California, sits a small stone church that would be impossible to find if you did not have good directions.
For three weeks each spring, two signs appear. One reads “Daffodil Garden, Park Here.” The other points to a narrow path that leads through a cluster of huge evergreens and over a thick blanket of old pine needles.
As you turn the corner it is impossible to remain silent as you get your first glimpse of the most glorious sight, something beyond imagination.
From the top of the mountain, sloping down over several acres across mounds and valleys, between the trees and bushes, following the slope of the land, are rivers of daffodils in radiant bloom. Everywhere you look the color of yellow blazes across the natural terrain as if God had just installed daffodil carpeting across the landscape.
As you try to wrap your mind around the fact that you’re looking at five acres of flowers, you can’t help but wonder aloud, “Who? How?”
It makes your head spin because the sight is so amazing, so unexpected and absolutely impossible. But there it is. You can see it, but you cannot believe it.
The Daffodil Garden is the handiwork of one woman. A former Los Angeles high school art teacher, she and her husband still live on the property. Their small home fits perfectly into the scene in the midst of all the glory.
This one woman, beginning in 1958, planted each daffodil bulb by hand, one at a time. No shortcuts. Year after year, planting just one ugly, dried up, lifeless bulb at a time, she forever changed her world by creating something of magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
To date, she has planted by hand more than 1,000,000 bulbs. She takes it one day at a time, when the weather is good. Her goal is to plant 600 bulbs before lunch and 400 bulbs in the afternoon. She says that looking at 1,000 bulbs is just too overwhelming, so she breaks it up into manageable parts.
Each daffodil bulb produces from three to ten blooms. As you look around it’s easy to believe that you are looking at 10,000,000 flowers, the golden expanse is that great.
Over the years, raging fires have destroyed this property not once but twice, taking with them the home and many of the trees. Each time this couple has rebuilt. But here is the most remarkable thing: the daffodils have always survived. In fact, some of the original bulbs from 1958 are still producing amazing blooms year after year, having never been watered or fed artificially. It seems that even when tried by fire, the daffodils hunker down into the safety of their deep roots, determined to survive. Every spring, they come back, more prolific and glorious than ever.
I don’t know if the woman started with a 50-year master plan to cover a 5-acre hillside, but I doubt it. Instead, I’ll bet she had a small goal to plant a patch close to the house. It looked so pretty, the next year she set a new goal for her daffodil patch to line the driveway. Then around the side of the big tree. Over the knoll, and along the mountain path. Just one small goal after another, year after year, she painted the landscape.
I can’t help but think of you now as our time together is coming to a close and you set out to apply the 7 Rules to your life.
Whatever your goal, as you begin now to apply and live by the 7 Rules, don’t think about how long the journey will be. Instead, set short goals.
You will be tempted to look backward. At times you will long to undo decisions you have come to regret, and you may be tempted to fall back into living with guilt and anxiety. That is a waste of time and energy and will only lead you to frustration. Don’t wallow in the past. Instead, release your mistakes and go on.
Don’t be hard on yourself by dwelling on what you could have accomplished if you had started years ago.
Instead of worrying that it’s too late, think of what you will have missed if you don’t start today.
Don’t put this off until your debts are paid, the kids are grown, until you get out of school, until you find a better job, until you clean your closets, until you get married, until spring break, until next year, or any other excuse you can think of.
Because you are human, you will make mistakes in the future. But your failures can be a source of blessing as they humble you and give you empathy for others whose needs are far greater than your own.
Determine to find contentment in what you have. Look for needs around you that you can fill with some of your wants. Thank God for all that you have.
As long as you are heading in the right direction, every step will count for good—even the baby steps. And when you fall on your face, just get up and keep going. And going. And don’t ever give up.
Before you know it you’ll be changing the landscape of your world.