“Playing small does not serve the world. We are all meant to shine, as children do. And as we let our own LIGHT shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same.”
– Marianne Williamson
Faith, Family and Agriculture
My father always lived by the saying, “It’s not about my story, but for God’s glory.” Even when I was too young to fully understand what he meant by this statement, I knew that the love and kindness that exuded from him and those around me was truly an example of God at work.
As I grow older, I hope to be a positive example for those around me so that I too can exude the same love and kindness that was shown to me.
Growing up in a small town with a population of less than 200, my definition of family probably included a lot more people than the average person’s definition. Life in Dawn, Missouri often included Sunday family dinner, Friday night, eight-man football and lunch at the “Dawn store” as we listened to the local farmers talk about the town gossip. Needless to say, I learned the meaning of “it takes a village” at a very young age and I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. My immediate family included my two parents, three siblings, three english mastiffs and a cat. So life was never boring.
Like most of Missouri, my county’s economy was completely driven by agriculture so I was no stranger to the industry. However, I did not grow up on a commercial farm. Instead, my family immersed ourselves in the dairy goat world and raising kids of the four-legged variety. This means that my summers were spent waking up at 5 a.m. to milk and chore the animals, showing at stock shows and gaining hard earned farmers’ tans as we stacked hay in the field.
When it came time to enroll in classes for my freshman year of high school, joining FFA wasn’t a question. I had watched the organization transform my older sister into a beautiful, shining, confident adult and I was ready to go through the same process. I quickly realized that FFA was a place where I could openly walk in my faith, add to my family and grow my knowledge of agriculture. FFA was home.
Madelyn E. Warren 