Today, my husband stood on the edge of a soggy cornfield when a stranger pulled onto the farm yard. The stranger wasn’t from around here. He was dressed like someone from the city, showing up in a shiny car — clean, not like the way a truck looks from driving the muddy, rutted country roads around here.
The stranger stepped out the car door and held in his hands the most unexpected surprise: a paper bag filled with cookies, along with a note.
“Cookies won’t make it better,” he said. “But we wanted you to know we understand what you’re going through.”
The guy was from the city … from the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce. And he had left the city for the day to drive around the countryside with cookies and notes. He had zero motive. He came only to deliver hope to farmers like my husband, who are really struggling right now.
The note read: “We know the ag sector — this region’s number one industry — is struggling. We recognize your hard work and perseverance through one of the most difficult times the ag industry has ever seen.”
In an instant, this stranger became our friend. Simply because he cared. Simply because he saw someone who was hurting. Simply because he understood the basic human need for community.
You might not be a farmer, but I’ll bet you know the gift of being seen, of being heard, of feeling like someone who doesn’t even know you truly cares. Or maybe you know what it’s like to leave your comfort zone, like that man left the city, to make sure someone who is struggling feels a little bit less alone. What a priceless gift!
We all need to know that we belong to each other — whether we are city folk, farm folk, whatever folk. No matter where people live, work … no matter what we believe … we all belong to each other. And in a hurting world, that can make all the difference.
