In All Things Give Thanks

I often struggle with gratitude. My personality traits that include drive, attention to detail and perfectionism can become a burden that leaves me looking for ways to improve things or people instead of appreciating what or who I have in front of me. That can create problems.

Life experiences, however, are the best teacher of gratitude, even, or perhaps especially the painful events or the things that get under our skin at the time. Think about things you may have experienced, the good and the painful, that have impacted your life. Co-workers who are always thankful to have a job even though they are the one cleaning the rotten beans out of the pit. Neighbors who never complain while caring for a terminally ill spouse or parent. Supervisors who say thank you for making them aware that you just put the wrong chemical in the tank or tore up a very expensive piece of equipment. Or parents who just lost a child consoling their visitors who came to console them.

Having our first-born daughter with Down Syndrome changed my life. I had always assumed people could do things easily and well if they would "just try or work a little harder". But then God sent me a wakeup call. Our daughter taught me that for some people, life is harder. For some, certain tasks are impossible. I began to learn that for those whom the battle is toughest, the victory can be the sweetest. Seemingly unnoticed accomplishments by other parents’ kids became tears of joy for us. The life lessons learned from our daughter have been some of the best gifts God has used to change my life. I’m still pretty stubborn and hardheaded, but those life lessons have softened my heart and remind me of a key Bible passage that literally should be taped on my mirrors and computer screen. "In all things give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

May this Thanksgiving season remind us all to be thankful for the many blessings God has showered upon us, in particular the things that money cannot buy. For more insight into making gratitude a habit in your life at home and at work, read "Practicing Gratitude Can Be Your Biggest Tool in the Workplace" found elsewhere in this newsletter. May you enjoy the journey to having a gratitude filled heart every day!

Well, it’s Fall, and like most agriculture people I love harvest seasons. Even though it often means a lot of exceptionally long days, it is the epitome of the end reward for hard work.

The other thing I love is basketball. Growing up in a small town in Indiana, I loved basketball from a very young age. We’d play in driveways, hay mows, or anywhere there were boys, a ball, and a hoop. Our high school gym could have been used to shoot scenes from Milan in the movie Hoosiers. One wall was out of bounds, and the over and back line was actually 2 lines, 15 feet apart. I started playing organized basketball in the fifth grade at school. There was no AAU (or at least we had never heard of it) but we played anywhere and everywhere we had a chance. I realize now I was not that good of a player, but I was over six feet tall and put it all on the floor every game, so I got a lot more playing time than I deserved.

My first four children were not much into sports, but when my fifth one, Madi, came along she was all about basketball. She started at the Boys and Girls Club when she was about six and unlike me, she was really good. Early on, her coaches realized the best way to stop me from yelling at the refs (and probably them) was to put me behind the scorer’s table running the clock. From park league through high school, I was the score / clock guy, and I loved it. I told everyone the reason I liked it was I had the best seat in the house, I got in free, and I loved the game.

The year after Madi graduated my wife and I moved to southwest Florida. I thought, what am I going to do on the fall and winter evenings after all those years of basketball twice a week? So, I googled North Port High and sent a note to the Athletic Director. They were thrilled to have a volunteer, and now I am in my sixth season at North Port High. It’s great, and I have been able to see some very talented girls run through the program. We have had several girls receive college scholarships from Junior Colleges to Division One. I plan to keep doing this as long as I can, so if you’re trying to call me after 5:00 pm during high school basketball season, now you know why I don’t answer. BOILER UP and Go Lady Bobcats!

Gratitude is such a light-sounding word for an emotion that’s so powerful. But there’s a reason why it shares the same Latin root — gratus — as the word grace. Living in a state of gratitude is our gateway to grace — and a vital part of our well-being.

We live in a stressful world, feeling perpetually behind, so connected to the entire world through our technology that we’re disconnected from each other and from ourselves. Rates of anxiety and depression are skyrocketing. But there is an antidote to all of this: gratitude. When you find yourself in that stop-the-world-I-want-to-get-off mindset, gratitude is the brake lever. Gratitude helps us reset and gives us perspective. We think of gratitude as a coda, an add-on, something that comes at the end. But in fact, gratitude is the beginning. And when we practice it, it sets off a chain reaction of positive benefits.

It’s something the ancients certainly knew. Cicero wrote that "gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all the others." This wisdom has since been confirmed by a mountain of hard science, as the list of what gratitude can do is seemingly endless.

At AGRI-SEARCH, our mission states that we "are committed to serving the agricultural industry with integrity, passion and excellence by assisting our candidates to reach their career goals and helping our client companies build successful teams."

If you are competitive; have a strong sales mentality and don’t mind being told no; love connecting with and helping people; have a strong agricultural industry background in agronomy, grain, banking, equipment, or other areas and would enjoy the challenges of a recruiting career, contact Dave Allen. We would enjoy having a discussion with you.