'Some People Wonder Why Farmers Keep Going... To Them, Dirt Is More Than Dirt. It's Life.'
My husband always tells me that he didn’t learn the art of surrender in a church. He learned it in a field.
Farming is constantly putting yourself in a position to trust God. This profession requires the knowledge that God is in control, whether you are standing under blue skies or rainclouds.
Today, my husband finally stepped into the tractor to plant. Standing here in this field, I prayed for him.
And I prayed for every other farmer, and for other every spouse who stands in the shadows, asking God for His great mercy.
This year, farmers have faced historic delays in planting due to unrelenting rains. That’s on top of an already shaky set of circumstances: low prices, rising costs, trade disputes.
It’s no wonder farmers feel battered. It’s no wonder that the phones at the farm-crisis hotline won’t stop ringing.
Some people wonder why farmers keep going, in a profession with so much risk and uncertainty.
Farmers keep going because farming is more than a job, it’s a way of life.
Farmers keep going because, like my husband, they are working the same fields that their fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers worked.
Farmers keep going because they feel the call and duty to take care of all that God has asked them to steward.
Farmers keep going because, to them, dirt is more than dirt. It’s potential. It’s life.
Out here on the farm, we live where we work, and we work where we live, and you can scarcely tell the difference … because we carry all of this life and love and hardship like dirt under our fingernails and in our hearts.
So today, I pray for the farmers. For the skies above to be blue. For the ground below to be dry. For the equipment to work, and for the markets to flourish.
And for every farmer with a hand upon a wheel to know that God truly is in control and that He has called them to the field — a place where we grow more than crops, but where we also grow in faith.
This is God’s promise:
“The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you” (Deuteronomy 28:8).
This content was published with permission from the author, Jennifer Dukes Lee, and first appeared on her Facebook page. Jennifer Dukes Lee is a bestselling author of several Christian books, including her latest, (disclosure: Amazon affiliate link) “It’s All Under Control.” She and her husband are raising crops, pigs and two beautiful humans on a farm in northwest Iowa.
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