Gratitude, Love and Faith

Thanksgiving has a way of bringing to mind everything that is important. And as a farm wife there is a certain pride that goes with it, knowing that what your family does makes an impact on the world. And every year it is something different, and yet very much the same.

And when you farm, every Thanksgiving weekend is something different and yet very much the same. Just ask our extended family, we never know what the weekend will physically look like. Some years we gather around a table, some years we scatter different directions wanting to get off the farm after completing a long tiring harvest, or the year you needed to be on the combine, cook a meal and get it to the field so we could enjoy family travelling to spend time with us.

This year is different yet again, with snow on the ground, the combines sitting still in the field, the semi full of tough canola and 1/3 of our crop still waiting to be harvested. Farming always has it’s fair share of uncertainty all year long, but the uncertainty this year is if we will actually get the crop in the bin. Will mother nature give us the break from this extreme weather to allow us to get all those seeds into the bin so we can market our grain to the world?

And yet, what remains the same this Thanksgiving? When I step back from what I see outside, and simply close my eyes – what do I see? The constants… Gratitude… Love… and Faith. And what does that mean to me and how I see myself, my family, friends, neighbors… the world?

Well I will be the first to tell you how easy it is to get caught up in what is going on outside of me. But the important part is what is going on the inside and how I nurture that part.

So when I step back from the outside and go within this is what I see and this is what I feel. Love, safety and guidance all wrapping me in a warm blanket that is stitched by everyone and everything that is important to me.

The world can get pretty loud some days and it’s hard to see the quiet. But finding that quiet in a loud world is what feeds my mental health… and that allows me to see the clearer picture of Gratitude, Love and Faith.

I love the conversation I had with my husband last night. The hardest part about this farm year is that the crops were so tremendous. The potential was pretty amazing, but as each day, week and month that passes of rain (and now snow)…. well tremendous has turned into a lot less. But how did the conversation go? We will be okay, we will make it thru this crazy year of farming. Basically at the end of each day, no matter what happens outside, we have this inside: we are safe, we are loved, we will be okay… and just as importantly… we will follow our hearts to do what needs to be done to get thru this year, and do it again next.

So at the end of the day, what’s important isn’t what we see on the outside. It’s all about finding the quiet on the inside where…

Gratitude, Love and Faith preside.

Listen to Tamina's audio version:

https://soundcloud.com/user-228569215/blog-gratitude-love-and-faithmp3