Farming is tough

I have always been in awe of farmers.  People who work the land to bring us good food.  People whose lives hinge on rain, dirt, cold, warm, and other things way beyond their control.  People who work harder in a day than I likely do in a year.

It’s easy to see how farm life becomes romanticized.  It’s a soap opera, a tragedy, a thriller, a love story, . . . We all know how much I love the story.  Farming is no different – except, that is really IS different.

So many of us have become so far removed from the farm in the name of progress.  And, having kids who plan to make a living from the latest technology – I understand that progress is not bad.  But, I think we left something on the proverbial farm that we forgot to take with us in our progress.  I don’t even know what to call this thing we left behind.  But, it is sorely needed.

The thing that makes us go out in too cold weather to tend to our responsibilities – even when it is uncomfortable, even when our toes are numb – because it is the right thing to do.

The thing that makes us re-use mason jars and store up food for our families – because “waste not – want not”

The thing that gets us through the days when the decisions are tougher and the cost is higher than we ever thought they would be – to go out the next day in the rain to do it again.

I am in awe of my sister and her husband.  They have no idea.  They don’t grow corn, they sometimes don’t even grow a garden, but they are most certainly farmers.  They trust God in ways that I haven’t had to practice yet.

I think the “thing” may translate down to a very real, tested, tangible faith.  Not polished up Sunday morning only faith, but Tuesday evening on the way to the barn faith.  “God must have a reason” faith.  “Somehow, I hope” faith.  “Give more than you are comfortable with” faith.  That faith can exist anywhere, in any walk of life, in the middle of the city or in the center of the suburbs.  But, today, it is visible to me, clearly in the tired eyes of weary farmers who are on their way back up the hill in the rain to do it again.