The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
February 9, 2021 column
The pressure is on. I’ve had a number of friends tell me that my stories really make them laugh. Talk about pressure to perform, especially after a rough week of losses. We lost a cow, a heifer and a calf recently. We also tragically lost friends and neighbors in accidents and sickness. I think we find humor and comfort in the simple things and appreciate it even more after we’ve been through the wringer.
Sometimes problems just seem to circle us and we feel like we’re spiraling down a deep hole. I think we can sympathize with Job in the Old Testament. Now that was a good guy caught in a twister of problems and bad news. But he survived to enjoy better days.
Not everything goes the way we envision, but it goes according to someone’s grand plan. Our problem is that we are standing too close to the painting to see the whole picture and how it all relates. For every season there is a reason.
A farmer was complaining to God about the weather and telling him how it should be done in order to produce a record harvest. (I think this is a very common conversation.) “Ok, God said, if you think you can do better, it is all yours.”
The farmer was thrilled with the chance to finally take control of the weather. It was the one thing that always eluded his grasp. He could control his input costs and how he sold his corn, but that darn weather. Now, he was going to control everything. He warmed up the winter soils with soothing spring rains and rays of bright sunshine. After planting, he turned up the sun’s heat to germinate the seeds and scattered gentle rains across the fields. Once the corn was up, he pushed the clouds from the sky and let the sun do its job. After the corn roots were anchored deep, he brought evening rains and sunny days to push the corn to tasseling. It was the best looking corn he had ever seen in mid-July. He was even able to get his second cutting of hay up with no rain. The corn grew straight and tall for the farmer never allowed it to storm on his fields.
By the end of the summer, the farmer was feeling pretty proud of himself. He had orchestrated the perfect summer growing conditions. His dream of a record harvest was within his reach. He could envision the golden kernels of corn flooding the combine hopper. He figured he need to check the milk line on the corn to determine how quickly he should start drying things down. Imagine his surprise when he discovered his dream harvest was a bust! The cobs were scattered with a few kernels. There was no pollination! What had gone wrong?
The farmer finally called God in for a consultation. “What went wrong? I gave the corn all the water and sunshine it needed to grow, yet there isn’t any corn on the cob!”
God just looked at him and smiled. “It’s not as easy as it looks is it? You gave the corn everything it needed, except for one important element. Wind.” The farmer was puzzled. Wind? Wind was what had flattened his fields the year before. Wind was what made him shiver to the bone in January. Wind was what lifted the roof off of the hay shed.
God shook his head and reminded the farmer that a gusty spring breeze lifted the kids’ kites high in the sky too. A bitterly cold January wind pushed him inside to spend time with his wife. And a gentle summer breeze was what helped to pollinate the corn. Winds may have knocked his corn stalks sideways in summer storms, but the well anchored stalks continued to grow and delivered an ear of corn at the end of the season. It all worked out according to plan.
As we look at the milk futures and wonder how we’ll get through it, remember the corn field that was knocked over by summer storms. It had anchored it roots deep in the soil to survive the stormy season ahead. Those of us that are well anchored can help support the new growth around us through these tough “windy times”. Look at it this way. At least we have job security. There are plenty of jobs to do everyday. We may not make any money that day, but there is always something to do. The cows still need to be milked everyday regardless of the “storms” outside. And these storms too shall pass.
Sometimes it is a matter of perspective. How can we appreciate a warm spring breeze unless we’ve experienced a harsh winter wind pushing us across an icy cow yard? Think of the difference between 40 degrees in January and September. In January you strip down to a t-shirt and soak in the “rays”. In September you search for a winter coat and shiver!
As storms swirl around us, we try to focus on a bigger picture. Appreciate the people around you, especially the one standing next to you throughout the stormy weather. With today being Valentine’s Day, surprise your wife. Grab her around the waist and swing her around like a young girl and listen to her laugh. If that’s not an option, just give her a wink, a smile and a great big kiss. That’ll make anyone’s day and help anchor those roots for surviving the windy days.
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As their four children pursue dairy careers off the family farm, Natalie and Mark are starting a new adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their farm north of Rice, Minnesota.
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