This page may not be what you were expecting when you navigated here but I feel compelled to share some thoughts on gifts we have been given that we may or may not have yet opened.

We are all blessed with a set of abilities upon our creation, something like God’s gifts to us on our actual first birthday. I am sure he does not expect us to open them all immediately, but I believe he hopes we will open them at some point in our lives. Typically these are not just for our own benefit, but for the enjoyment and edification of those whose lives touch ours. For example my website, I could have spent my whole life learning to build websites and I never would have been able to come up with one that captures what I desired and is as appealing to me as this one my nephew created. I consider that a true gift. I am as pleased as I can be with it and the responses from other folks tend to be similar. If the end result is to bring people to me who enjoy our grass fed beef and benefit from it, then that original gift is being more fully manifested. At the same time it helps me to share what God has given me, the resources to create good quality food for others to enjoy.

One of the most fulfilling and valuable gifts to both the giver and receiver is that of encouragement. I will again use my own experience as an example. What we do for a living is outside the mainstream of typical “modern” agriculture. That can, at times, be an uncomfortable place. The encouragement we receive from our own family, our friends, the Perkins family at Whitefeather Meats who does our processing, and especially our co-producers, or customers as they are commonly referred to as, is invaluable. Every time I receive a compliment either in person, by e-mail and even by notes sent through regular mail, it does more to inspire me than the giver could possibly know.

It is a wonderful system that God has put in place and I encourage you, as I strive myself, to explore our natural given talents that we are blessed with and to put them to the best use that we possibly can for the benefit of all whom we encounter.  

From the Berger’s at Green Vista Farm, we ask that God bless your family and ours.