Telling Your Story
It sure feels good to be back in fellowship with the ag community.
Last night was a Farm Bureau picnic. Last weekend was a youth dairy event. It was good to be with the people you know, the people in your circle, to talk, catch up and enjoy each other's company.
We probably all felt like something was missing last year, and over time, we just learned to live with the feeling and live without whatever was missing. It was an uneasy feeling that went beyond what was and continues to happen around us in society. I am pretty sure that uneasiness, the feeling that something was very out of place, was due to the lack of fellowship and outright loneliness!
Last summer, we had a "Not 4-H" picnic at a county lakeside park. We lingered until everyone was late getting home for chores. It was simply good to be together.
Last week's youth event? We barely knew the kids were competing because the adults had circled the tables and the officials had to keep reminding the grown-ups to keep the volume down. In fact, the few practices we held were nothing more than glorified ice cream socials. We all agreed that gathering around the long picnic table at the end of the dairy barn was the thing we all looked forward to most for 2021 fair week.
Fellowship is so easily taken for granted. I know I did! How many times did we hear or read about how much we needed that fellowship so blatantly missing in 2020? I'm not sure the absence of fellowship truly sank into our emotions until we experienced fellowship again. And once we were together, there was new appreciation for being in groups of like-minded people. We had to experience the isolation to genuinely appreciate the fellowship.
People in monumental periods of history experienced isolation. The citizens of Germany during WWII kept to themselves because neighbors turned on neighbors, and anyone at any time could be working for Gestapo. Settlers who ventured further and further west usually lived lonely lives. Rare gatherings must have been a feast for their souls!
I've experienced nothing to compare to WWII times or being a lonely settler on the plains, but I am definitely feasting on the fellowship this year. It is cathartic!
Bev Berens is a mom to 4-H and FFA members in Michigan. Do you have a story to share? Email her at uphillfarm494@yahoo.com.