The Bread of Life

I have been wondering lately what the purpose of it all was. I mean seriously. I am kind of like almost an adult. This year I leave my teenage years. Soon, I will have a big fat 2 to start off my age. You would think that I might have a clue what in the world is going on. But I don't. In fact everyday confirms this fact even more. What is even scarier than all of that is the question "what am I doing with my life?" I want my life to mean something. I don't want to waste it. So how at nearly twenty can I make these huge decisions? The thought makes me cringe inside.
I am an agriculture major. I study farming, not farmers. haha. In this male dominated field what am I going to do? I love to grow plants and it does give me an inexplicable joy to have and learn about plants. However, is that really what I want to do with my life? I don't want to be a traditional, tractor-driving farmer. The thought of owning my own business is rather scary. Working in a greenhouse seems so limiting. I definitely know that I don't belong in a science lab. So, what can I do? I want to be with the people. That is what I love: people. I love plants but they don't get me hyped up the way that being with people and building community and making relationships do. Since I don't know how to major in building community I will major in the most common community institution of the world: agriculture.
Today I listened to possibly the powerful speaker, I have ever heard. She didn't a powerfully resonating and clear voice. She actually admitted succumbing to allergies. She didn't have an imposing presence. She was probably right around five feet tall. She at one point lost her place in her paper and shuffled her papers around until she found it. From all the public speaking training I have had over the years, (probably more training than is actually utilized) it would seem like this was an easily dismissed speech. Au contraire! Every person in the packed auditorium was glued to her every word - some 600 people or so. There was something about the way she told her stories. She most definitely had a passion to her speaking. She believed in what she was saying. She also made me believe what she was saying without asking me to trust her. She also told of impressive stories with such ease without bragging but just to say this is what happened.
So who was she? Her name is Dr. Jo Luck. She is the former President and CEO of Heifer International. In case you haven't heard of Heifer Int. then the short of it is that it is the largest philanthropic organization in the world - by means of the number of people it helps. The organization is one where they go into communities worldwide and transform them into self-supporting communities through agricultural development. They help the community to practice better and more sustainable agriculture practices. The community members are able to increase their income for their families. Dr. Luck said that the first thing that people do, almost all of the time, when they have an increased income is to educate their children. The organization goes on to promote many other ideals such as gender equity, animal welfare, and accountability. It was really cool to see how they were able to promote communities so ridden with poverty and despair to stations where they had hope and dignity. They work very closely with the women of the community because they are often the cornerstones in the community with raising the family and often do much of the agricultural work. Dr. Luck said that she always tells the women that she comes in contact with "You do not have to disrespect your husband, your family or your culture to achieve your dreams." How is that for empowering women without disempowering men!
Dr. Luck would refer offhand about her close contact with President Clinton and his family. She is from Arkansas. She was also appointed by President Obama to serve as and adviser in International Development with respect to agriculture. She did not tell us these things to impress us. She was just telling us about her life as she had been asked as the lecturer for the annual and prestigious D.W. Brooks Conference.
She made me absolutely reinspired to work in international agricultural development. I have no idea what that will look like and whether or not it would be full time or not. However, I was thinking how awesome it would be to give such core values to people around the world. The most important thing to give would be life. They would not have to be hungry. However, to feed men is a very noble thing. I respect Heifer International very much and I may have occasion to work with them in the future. However, to give man life for today is great. But to give him Life for all of eternity, now THAT is something that lasts. To combine this agricultural development with the Good News of Christ, THAT would really change the world.