A Tribute to Gordon B. Hinckley

January 27, 2008

Cece and Lara

My sister.  My soulmate.  My friend. 

Where did you go?  Why did you leave?  

I can't figure out if I did something wrong,

I wonder how I could be so naive? 

Why do I pretend to be so darn strong?

You were the one I shared my soul with, 

Someone I learned to lean on.

My head says you'll be back again,

This distance doesn't mean you're really gone.

Perhaps you just need time to figure your new world out,

But my heart aches quietly for the friendship we had,

I struggle to understand what this silence is about.

When will I stop feeling so sad?

I try to move on from this place where we were

Try new friends, but they don't seem to fit.

It's easier to keep my feelings locked inside.

But it is harder than I choose to admit.

Slowly, cautiously,  I move through the motions.

Knowing when we again meet, our paths will not part

For you are my sister.  My soulmate.  My friend.

And forever a piece of my heart.

Why Did You Leave

I used to feel your comfort, Lord, as I read my scriptures each day.
I felt your Spirit abide in me, when I knelt by my bedside to pray.
In desperate times, when I called on you, guidance and faith you would send.
Giving me the strength I needed, so this broken heart could mend.
I felt you in my every hour, my soul never left alone to grieve.
But, now that my life is going so well, “Tell me Father, why did you leave?”
At first, I didn’t notice your absence, for the blessings you sent were so grand.
I thought you’d be pleased not to hear from me, calling on you to always lend a hand.
How relieved you must have been, I thought, that my needs were no longer so great.
Giving you the time you needed to focus on those whose prayers could not wait.
Now, as I listen for that still small voice of your spirit dwelling within me.
It seems I have to listen even harder. “Tell me Father, why did you leave?”
These thoughts go in and out of my mind, much more often that they used to.
Every time I’m feeling confused inside, my thoughts drift back to you.
I had drifted from Church awhile, so sure you would remember my name.
I longed to have you back in my life, wondering if it would be the same.
But I worried I wasn’t worthy enough to be a part of your fold once more.
How could I ever feel the love that you blessed me with before?
Could you really love me enough to grant my heart a reprieve?
This road I walk is so lonely now, “Tell me Father, why did you leave?”
Then one day I dusted off my scriptures and opened them up to read.
Peace and understanding held me, as your words filled my every need.
This is what my life was missing . . . the habit of your daily word.
To think I should carry on alone, was nothing but absurd.
Once again, I fall upon my knees, and ask my Father in prayer.
If only He will know my voice, I shall follow Him anywhere.
Then, I felt His arms around me and my heart did truly cleave.
I heard Him whisper, “Oh, my child, tell me, why did you leave?”

The Daffodil Principle

For the past 10 years or so, the story of “The Daffodil Principle” begins to circulate at this time of year.

This is one of the most inspirational stories I’ve ever read. It deserves to be read and to be passed along!

There is a saying “The best time to plant a tree was 35 years ago. The second-best time is today.”
May we all plant our trees (or daffodils) today.
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 follow wed 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 have kids…
*Until the kids go to school…
*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!

~ author Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards ~

More on the Daffodil Principle, from a LDS Blogger

http://discipleship.ldsblogs.com/2008/06/05/the-daffodil-principle

The actual daffodil garden is located in the San Bernardino mountain range. Tucked back in this humble spot are five acres of daffodils in many colors. This entire area was planted by just one woman, Gene Bauer, but think of the many thousands of people her field has blessed.

That’s the first principle this field offers. We have to stop and look. Sometimes the most beautiful things in the world, the best blessings from the Savior are tucked away in every day things we don’t notice. Sometimes they’re out of the way in places that seem difficult to reach. No matter where we find them, when we look the goodness and mercy of the Savior will overwhelm our spiritual eyes with peace, beauty and goodness.Now, let’s think about those statements for a minute. I talked recently about the principle of feeding 5,000 people. Did it seem overwhelming to think about your self providing 5,000 acts of service during your life time? Yet, here is a woman who knew how anything is done. One thing at a time. She may have started with a vision of unending fields of flowers, but she also gave herself permission. For what?

To dream of that field.
To have faith that she could make it happen.
To allow herself the time that would be needed to see it through.

Many of us hold righteous desires within our hearts that we have not given ourselves permission to explore. They seem to big, to different, to much outside of our comfort zone, so we keep them firmly tucked away instead of realizing that those desires come from the spirit of Christ and His love that we carry inside of ourselves. It is our desire to become like Him that plants those seeds within our minds and hearts. But to many of us, we feel the field is just too big and our time and efforts are just too inadequate. The Savior would have us know that this is not so!

All He asks of us is exactly what Gene Bauer gave: 50,000 gifts of love given one at a time, by one woman with her own hands and feet, with more heart than the world’s logic, and time to let her efforts grow. She began and saw it through. So can we.

Now, this field of flowers is not all the same. Not only was it planted over the course of many years, but it was planted with many different colors and varieties. One disciple’s efforts will not be in the same year, or color as another’s, but it is our bulb and our season to plant it. With the Lord’s help and love, every bulb will be beautiful.

There is one more thing to note on the subject of the Daffodil Principle. In 1999 fire destroyed Ms. Bauer’s home, the surrounding lawns, flowers and trees. It did not, however, destroy her field of daffodils. Have there been wildfires sweeping through your own life lately? What have you done with your bulbs of service as you waited out the storm? Don’t draw them back into yourself. Even when your own life seems overwhelming, as a disciple of Christ your hands are still His. He needs them to help and bless others so that the way will be opened for Him to help you as well.

Don’t stop planting. You still have work to do. Then, know that even as everything else around you seems to be destroyed, your life and the fruits of your righteous labors are still under His protection. Even when your life is over, the flowers and seeds of the gospel that you plant everywhere you go will continue to bloom and inspire more of God’s children.