Lately I have had a jumble of thoughts that all link together in my mind and I hope I can pen them coherently. It has to do with why I am an "accidental gardener" and not a methodical one, and why we have 9 kids and not 3, or 5, and why we are starting a coffee importing business in our 60's!
So what exactly is the link between all these different elements of my life? Ironically enough, it is the motto of our start up business, "Doing what we can..". I didn't even make the connection all at once, but recently I have been noticing a theme in my life. There are things that are important to me, very important in fact, that I cannot accomplish on my own or do not have an expectation of ever fully accomplishing, but I can't "not" do something. So.... I do what I can.
Gardening seems to always reflect who I am in a way that is almost creepy. I believe that we all can benefit from growing something, and the more the better. Flowers and other ornamentals just give pleasure and a sense of peace to our lives. Home grown fruits and vegetables are tastier and more nutritious than mass produced store bought varieties. Not to mention that it's downright exciting to see them grow, harvest and eat them! If I am such a proponent of gardening, then why am I so haphazard, or "accidental" about it? Because my time and resources are often demanded elsewhere, and gardening doesn't get moved up on the priority list. But I do what I can... because I value it, and I find that little by little my garden grows and improves and gives back more to me and those around me.
What does that have to do with 9 kids, or coffee for that matter?
I believe that children are a blessing, always and without exception. I believe that, because God says that. The culture and times that we live in make it very hard to believe that. I believe that God created families to be the ship that weathers the storms of life, but so many lives are shipwrecked by the storms and left with barely scrap of a lifeboat. I can't fix that, and may not even be able to convince folks to work on the boat before the storm hits. But, I do what I can... by investing my life into my family and allowing God to build it according to His design. Hopefully, as our family grows and expands, it will be a visible example and beacon of hope to others in a stormy sea of troubles and despair
And what about the coffee, you ask?
Poverty is another one of those problems we can't seem to fix. Poverty contributes to one of the greatest evils in our world, human trafficking and slavery. Coffee is grown in some of the poorest regions of the world and is a profitable commodity worldwide. The challenge is allowing the profits to trickle down to the farmers and their communities. When this happens, economic opportunity grows in the coffee regions allowing families and communities to develop sustainable means of providing for themselves and thereby minimizing the opportunities for human traffickers to take advantage of vulnerable women and children.
I don't expect One Ounce Coffee to eliminate human trafficking in Kenya, or even in one small area of coffee production. Again, we do what we can... by giving farmers a fair price for their coffee, and helping them develop their farms to produce more and higher quality coffee so that their future continues to improve.
As long as I live, I hope I can always do what I can.
