Discipleship of Farming: Thank You Farmers!

Hello Friends,

For this week’s lesson, I encourage you to read the following words adapted from Paul Harvey’s poem, “God Made Farmers.”

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his creation and said, “I need a caretaker”

— so………. God made Farmers.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, tend to the animals, work all day in the fields, tend to the animals again, eat supper, then go to town to attend their child’s school function or stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board”

— so………. God made Farmers.

“I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to give a hug when someone needs one. Somebody who can cheer on their kids at the county fair while teaching them hard work doesn’t always get them a blue ribbon.”

— so………. God made Farmers.

God said, “I need somebody willing to watch over that midnight litter of pigs knowing some of them just won’t make it or sit up all night with a newborn colt, and watch it die, then dry their eyes and say, ‘Maybe next year.’

— so………. God made Farmers.

I need somebody who can put in the time to plant and harvest, who finishes a forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, and then even though their bodies ache or they’re covered in bandages, they put in another seventy-two hours”

— so………. God made Farmers.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds, and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when they see a neighbor in need.

— so………. God made Farmers.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and gather the eggs, and somebody who will stop the mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark or save a nest of bunnies.”

— so………. God made Farmers.

They had to be somebody who could plow deep and straight and not cut corners; somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disk and plow and plant and finish up a hard week’s work by taking the family to church; somebody who would bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh, and then sigh, and then reply only with smiling eyes, when their child says, “I want to spend my life doing what you do.”

— so………. God made Farmers.

Remember to thank a farmer this week, and remind them how important they are in your life! God needed a caretaker, so He made the Farmer.

Your Friend, Holy Spirit!