The Farmer’s Field: Plant Seeds of Positivity

By Ron Rabou

As a Wyomingite, I tend to be quite fond of the way in which I have been accustomed to live. What I mean by this is I like my space. 

I like walking to my office every morning in my yard, managing my schedule on my own behalf, making my own deals and managing my own business in my own yard. I guess in some ways this might sound a bit selfish, but the life my wife and I have chosen to build has shaped my independence, my perspective and, in large part, my interpretation for what embracing the American way of life is all about.  

My vision for my own future has always been about creating a balance between work and family, raising three boys in an environment which encourages a healthy mix of work and curiosity, as well as an opportunity to explore and embrace their own passions. 

It’s been about creating mental and financial independence – which I seem to be constantly working on – and it’s been about creating enough freedom for myself to be immersed in helping make where we live a better place. 

It has always been my goal to share my experiences, heartaches and triumphs with others in a way I hope helps their lives to become better as a result.  

You and I are likely more alike than we are different. We may not have the same political beliefs, the same interests or even the same goals, but at our core my guess is we more than likely agree on core values and the things that are the absolute most important to us – three of which would be faith, family and friends.  

I find the hard part is that not every day is the same, and I suppose this is a good thing.  Perhaps you feel the same way I do. Not every day is great. Some days are downright hard. Some days, the little things bother me, or if I am completely honest, some days everything bothers me. 

Some days, nothing seems to go right. No matter what I do or how I do it, I end up with a big crap sandwich. I’m not particularly fond of those days, by the way.  

Then, on other days I can seem to do no wrong. Things of all sorts seem to fall into place. Everything just works. In case you’re wondering, I love those days. 

I have often pondered the difference and what causes it. Is it sleep, preparedness, proper timing, what I ate, how much I prayed or is it just luck? 

Conclusively, I have decided I have no idea. 

Perhaps it’s not within my capacity as a human being to understand what causes both good days and bad, but rather it is within my field of control to determine I must move forward and handle each challenge, failure and success with a positive mindset and humble heart and the understanding I must learn from each experience, regardless of the process or the outcome. 

Here’s what I do know. The Lord works in my life in untold ways to teach me the things I lack the most – patience and control of the unknown. 

I understand both of those things. I’m a farmer, after all. It’s something our farm and family face every single day. The very nature of what we do means while we can do everything nearly perfectly, ultimately the weather determines our fate. This can be a tough pill to swallow.  

I spent this past weekend in one of my favorite places with one of my favorite people – on a farm in the Midwest at an antique tractor show with my son Spencer. 

As we both found ourselves gazing across the rolling, green landscape covered with trees and crops the best farmers would envy, Spencer said something to me I’ll never forget.

“Everyone thinks the world is falling apart and everything is horrible,” he said. “It’s all because they haven’t been to rural America.”  

This statement could not be more profound, nor could it be more true.  

Sometimes, I think we all have it too easy.

Don’t mishear me, I don’t know you, and I’m not saying you have an easy life. Rather, what I am saying is we live in such a free society, in such an incredible country and we have access to anything and everything we could possibly want or do or say, and the ease of access we have to so many things, it’s just easy to lose perspective.  

So when we have a bad day, or listen to too much negative news, or scroll too much social media, or spend too much time focusing on the negative or the things that are wrong, or when we focus on arguing and fighting with those who have differing political views from our own, we lose sight of all of the good and all of the blessings that flood each and every one of our lives.

Maybe we could all use a dose of the way farmers in rural America live. 

There is no greater hope or faith than planting a seed in the ground and hoping the weather cooperates enough to provide a harvest bountiful enough to meet our daily needs. 

It’s what we should all do. Plant a seed of positivity, manage and eradicate the weeds of negativity, pray and have faith all will end well.  

The ability to embrace this mindset is within us all. Imagine the world if we did.

Ron Rabou is president of Rabou Farms, Inc. in southeastern Wyoming, a nationally known author, speaker and co-host of the nationally-syndicated podcast AgInspo. For more information, visit raboufarms.com.