Life's Journey

So how do you wait for heaven?
And who has that much time?
And how do you keep your feet off the ground
When you know that you were born
You were born to fly.

These lyrics from "Born to Fly" by Sara Evans, inspired the path that my agvocacy blog has taken. We are all born to fly, we just have to find our wings and set off in the world. In these past months I have spent blogging, I have realized one of my goals now is to be an informative agvocate!

To be a true advocate for agriculture, I believe you must be informed and become knowledgeable about all aspects of agriculture production and to be able to speak about any species of livestock, not just the breed you raise. Try to understand the issues that affect production and speak intelligently about them. Understanding an industry is key to being able to share not just your story but others as well. I hope that I have been able to do this to some degree. For consumers to really understand, we as ag producers need to be heard but not necessarily with 1 voice as we often hear in political terms, but to quote my mom, "perhaps we need to be more like a choir- a multitude of voices- all equally important, and singing from the same book".

I can only hope that I become a true "agvocate" and leader in agriculture. The journey to becoming this has been long but I have had much help along the way. My inspirations and encouragement have all come from my family. I get constant support from my parents to keep going and succeed at many things. As most people read in a previous post, my grandma has been and always will be my hero, for so many reasons. My grandpa, who I wish I could have gotten to know better since he passed away when I was 2, has also been an inspiration to always learn and succeed. Grandpa wasn't raised in a beef cattle production, so when he married my grandma, he learned everything that would make him successful in the industry. In a few short years, he became a respected cattlemen who is missed by many people. My other inspirations are two of my cousins that are known and respected by many- Peter and Christine Boake. Peter spent many hours with my when I was younger, teaching me how to clip and fit my animals, and has always been there to offer advice. Christine actually inspired me in my future career path- to be a graphic designer and work in social media just like her. Having mentors encourages your personal success and leads you on your path.

As I'm sitting here talking about finding your calling, I remember back a number of years ago when I attended the National Junior Shorthorn Show. We had a keynote speaker, David Irvine, who spoke about leadership in agriculture. The things he said have stuck with me after all of this time. Your life's calling is inside of you, and it is yours to find. Make your journey your own. The four key points of calling are vision, passion, gifts, and contribution. Everyone is unique and has something different to offer, and we have to find that something. And that is what we are all trying to do in this world: embark on a journey to find out life's calling. We all have a vision for the future and a dream. I have found that there is no place I would rather have this journey than in agriculture. It has started here on the ranch, and continues here. I can't be too sure where it will end, or if it will end, but I will always know where my roots are.

Here is a poem that David Irvine included in his program that speaks to so many of us, and will stay with me forever.
Child: Where is Heaven, Dad?
Father: Heaven's a place where people can go and taste pure water,
And see in Winter, white snow.
Heaven's a place that's good and clean,
Where you can breathe the air,
And the grass is green.
Heaven is a beautiful park,
Where there are birds to sing,
And you're safe after dark.
Heaven's a place where there's lots of risk, but you've got support to deal with harm...
I lived in heaven once,... I lived on a farm

http://www.davidirvine.com/

See you at Synergy!