Come With Me

Several years ago our oldest daughter read about creating a homeless box, filling a shoe box sized plastic container with items that could help the less fortunate. We packed socks, water bottle, snacks, and hygiene items into containers, placed one in each car and made the agreement that whenever we saw someone in need, we would put any cash we had into the container and share it. Great idea, right? The funny thing was that she went through the trouble of making them up and handing them out to us, and left for college. With no car and no homeless box. So the rest of our family had the job of handing out the boxes and telling her about it later.

This summer our daughter told me about a local farm she had heard about; it’s a sustainable farm run by a couple who allows people to come and tour the place, would I be interested in learning more? We have a small garden each year, and she knows I love to learn about growing new things, so we planned to take a tour. My girl and I ended up spending a morning with the farming couple, helping to harvest the week’s produce for their CSA (community supported agriculture) program, and connecting with them on a deeper level than I would have ever anticipated. At the end of our time together I found myself volunteering to harvest with them on a regular basis. A few days later our daughter left for school, not to return to our state for at least four months.

It’s amusing to me how our girl can draw us in to the very things she is passionate about, then walk away and keep the rest of us in it. Today I look forward to my day each week at the farm, building a relationship with the farm couple and their family and friends and learning so much about how to live on this land better. It has been a good distraction for me as I miss our first born, and feel physically closest to her when I am in the garden. I think God wants us to be enthusiastic about something – anything really, and put our time and energy behind it, find ways to help others with it, recruit friends into it with us and continue growing and changing to become passionate about even more. 

As I was cleaning I noticed a couple of homeless boxes in our laundry room yesterday, I think I will replenish our cars with them, and maybe I will find someone in need on the way to the farm this week!

Want to join me at the farm? http://www.negoods.com/