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When I first thought of doing this talk. I was going to start with a story of a blind mule called Claude, and then go on to the core which would be about how you and I as individuals, and the Church as a body should be encouragers of others. Showing you how you could be building people up, helping the young and the old to dream dreams, and to enlarge their grasp, in terms of what they want to achieve in life, both within the Church environment and outside. To be there encouraging others to be constant in their love for Christ. To be active in the service of Christ. To be tireless in their good works. And then I thought, there I'd be laying more on you again. Giving you another job to do, to lift up the spirits of others. You probably have a hard enough time keeping your own spirits up with the trials that you are facing, and there comes this guy giving you another load to carry! Instead of that why doesn't he try to encourage me! We are living in an age of the big corporation and big business and big missions and it's hard to see what difference one person can make. So why doesn't he give us a "for instance or two" to lift our spirits up? OK, that's what I'll try to do! First from the bible. Noah was only one man. A preacher of righteousness as it says in 2 Pet 2:5. GEN 6: Indicates that he preached about 100 years after being told by God that he would destroy all sinful men from the earth. Noah unlike the others in the world all around, believed God and acted to bear a witness. But he spent 100 years preaching, How long would you spend before you thought you weren't getting anywhere? Next God told him to build an ark to save his family and all the animals. Let's read this bit. (Read Gen 6:13-16) He obeyed and started building. 450 feet long! 75 feet wide! 45 feet high! 3 floors! Something like a big car ferry! This took 40 -50 years according to some commentaries. Preaching and building! Preaching and building. No rain in all that time probably! Would you have thought he was crazy? But what was the result of this one man's work? A powerful witness to the world and mankind saved through him and his family. So can one person make a difference?! YES!!! So there's our word of encouragement in God's work; God is working something out here below, and your part will make a difference! It may not seem to for a long while. But remember Matt 24:22. If those days had not been cut short none would survive. But for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
Now what about an example from this age. I decided to tell you a story after all but not about Claude. A story about daffodils. Now it's written by a woman about what happened to her, and it's told in the first person, so bear that in mind as I read. I've left the story as it was though. The lady should get the credit for making the point.
THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE..
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 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 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!" A goal in Christ's work or to help others or a personal goal.
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct
way. "Start today!" she said.
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