Guest Blog: We Are Daffodil Strong
Guest post by: Karen Rush, Children’s Center Executive Director
What a difficult couple of weeks Children’s Center has endured! We had power outage for four days, internet outage for six days, and no access to our Therapy Building (due to downed power lines) for a week!
But here we are in March, ready to face new challenges and continuing to make a positive difference in the world. I am grateful to report that our staff is really good at this “meeting adversity” thing. As a new member of this work community, it was so incredible to experience how everyone in some way reached out offering whatever they could to ease the burden of others. It is no wonder that this is such a resilient organization.
Because of the concerns related to opening the Center, I stopped by the Sunday after the storm. I have to admit I was a little in awe that something so disruptive could also be breathtakingly lovely. As beautiful as it was, the storm left its mark by knocking down tree branches, power, and communications lines. What struck me when I returned on Tuesday, however, was that the daffodils continued blooming right outside my window. They looked exactly the same as they did before the storm: pointed up towards the sun and blooming in all their yellow glory!
I mentioned this to my husband Don, and he said, “Well, that is what daffodils were made for. They are the first to bloom in the spring because they are strong enough to withstand frost or snowstorms that might happen during the transition from winter.” I was intrigued at how that concept was so true of all of us, that we thrive when we do what we are made for.
Daffodils don’t try to be more like the trees they are growing next to (though I am sure they appreciate the shelter provided); they focus on the business of supporting as many blooms as they can while spreading their roots to new places.
I believe that each of us has innate strengths and talents that we can bring to our community to lift us up and help us reach our goals. Our culture tends to be fixated on what skills we need to develop so that we can be more like others we admire. We tend to be much less focused on cultivating what is already within us and bringing those strengths to light. I have often wondered why this is, when nature provides the exact opposite example every day, in every way!
Children’s Center can be better at meeting our mission when each of us brings our unique strengths to the community. It is my goal that all of us who work, volunteer, or support the Center will focus on bringing our personal strengths and talents to the organization. My hope is that we can all be more like the daffodils, and support as many children and families as possible while also strengthening and increasing our presence in the community.
Finally, I took some pictures on that Sunday when ice covered everything, and those daffodils were busy drawing on their strengths. I have put these photos into the video below, and wanted to share with you the beauty that persisted despite the devastating effects of the 2021 ice storm.
– Karen
