An Occupation of Faith

Spring time rains are here!  We’ve been pretty dry here in Southern Minnesota, so much so that they put us in a “Moderate Drought” category.  Last week strong winds were blowing top soil everywhere, but this morning I awoke to the gentle sounds of rain drops hitting my window pane.  Praise be to God!  I know there are lots of happy farmers, because their prayers are being answered.  Weather is something no farmer has control over and they are at complete mercy to it.  Because of this, I believe in order to farm you have to have a deep sense of a higher calling or a higher power.  Farming is an occupation of faith. 

So often farmers place their hope and trust in something bigger than themselves.  Farmers have faith; it is a requirement.  They have faith that there is a plan, that God will provide, that if they do their best on Earth to be care takers of the land, water and animals, that they will be rewarded.  Sometimes though, life doesn’t as planned.  Sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate.  Sometimes the cards that farmers get dealt make no sense.  But at the end of the day, farmers are resilient, they know their calling, and they have faith that they will be able to try again; they keep trying again. “Maybe we’ll get it right next time or next season.”

In my heart, I am a farmer, I have faith.  I know my calling in life and I trust in God’s plan.  I am so blessed to have grown up on a farm, to have first-hand knowledge and experience in God’s glory.  I have seen my parents struggle through difficult times in farming history, wondering if we would have money to feed our family or pay the bills, but they never lost faith.  They have been great examples of resilience and the important of dedication and passion.  But when you boil everything that they went through to keep on farming, it came down to having faith, and I have faith in God’s plan for me and my farming future!