The Church Farm

This morning was wonderful. We got to see the sunrise over the Superstition Mountains.

We got to eat donuts and drink chocolate milk in the car.

We got to go back to the farm.

Our church has a farm about an hour away from where we live and last year was our first time to go work at it. So we spent 2 hours digging dirt out of irrigation ditches right beside a cotton field. My kids got to see how cotton looks as it is growing. And they got to experience one of the many chores in farming.

So we signed up again this year. And we went back. We spent two hours digging out dirt and mud. It was wonderful.

We worked alongside other volunteers we didn't know, but soon found we had things in common.
As volunteers, we did a very small part of a necessary job so the farm can water its wheat crop.

To me, this is where it gets exciting. That wheat will be grown and harvested and then people can buy the wheat from the church. Or the wheat gets packaged and sent all over the world and freely distributed to those in need. Some is donated in shipments of supplies for the Red Cross to distribute, and some is distributed by the church. So many times those packages of food are the life saving staples for those who have had their homes destroyed by natural disasters.

When I think of the times that these disasters happen, I know that the church has very likely sent supplies. And I can think of people getting supplies that maybe came from the fields we worked at or the many other fields that volunteers throughout the country are working at just like we did. I think of the thousands of volunteers who package what the church has grown and get it ready to put in those care packages or on the shelves of food pantries.

Sometimes when I see all that is going on all around the world I get overwhelmed. I want so badly  to help. Sometimes I think about how small my little contribution is in the midst of big disaster.

But then I realize that each of us giving what we can give or doing what we can do, collectively makes a difference.

And I can know that even for a very short period of time and in a very small way, my family helped.

We didn't change the world today, but for a few hours our world was changed.