Getting screwed over may be the best gift of all

Brace yourselves, dear readers.  Here's another excerpt from the AgriNews blog.  Yeah, the title might be a bit misleading (I didn't get screwed over at Christmas or anything...quite the contrary actually) but hopefully it all makes sense anyway. 


Enjoy! 
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We all make plans. And I’m not just talking about all the plans we make for the holidays, such as going to Hub’s parents’ house on Thanksgiving and my parents’ on Christmas. 

No, no, I’m talking big plans. Deep plans. Life plans. 

Here, at the end of 2010, I’m doing a bit of reflecting. First, it seems that 2010 went by way too quickly. I’m just now ready for fall to begin, let alone to have it already over. 

I recently got to do one of those interviews that, when I left, I really felt enlightened. Without going into too much detail, I was interviewing a farmer who was fulfilling some major philanthropy projects. 

He has had success and now has the proof to show for it, even though he’s giving quite a bit of it away. 

From multiple farms to owning multiple businesses, this guy is a businessman, and he’s not afraid to admit it. But, with all the fortune he’s found, he said he knows a lot of it came from being at the right place at the right time and being nice to the people he’s met a long the way. 

But the message that stuck with me after this interview wasn’t about his hard work ethic and his perseverance. After all, those characteristics can be found in almost everyone in agriculture. 

The part that got me was this statement: “Whitney, I got screwed over good a couple times before I got to where I am today.” 

It was less of the “make lemonade out of lemons” speech I’ve been hearing my whole life and more of the “Suck it up, don’t be a pansy and move on.” 

Maybe it was the cut-to-the-chase phrase of “got screwed” that resonated with me, but I think that’s a good lesson to put in my pocket for the next time I’m having a rough day. 

There’s a country song that includes the lyric, “You wanna hear God laugh? Tell him your plans.” 

I think we young people — let me hold on to that bit of my youth and consider myself to still be a young person, OK? — have a tendency to make plans for our future and be completely thrown off if something doesn’t go as planned. 

Maybe the thought of being fluid enough to “go with the flow” is a lost art, but it seems that once a plan of mine gets a bit derailed, I get flustered. 

I’m not one to easily “flow.” I’m working on it. 

But as I left that interview, I couldn’t help but think what might have happened to this particular farmer/businessman/entrepreneur if God had just let him follow his plans with out throwing him a bit off course. I don’t know that his companies would exist today or if he would have the capability to help with the fundraisers as he has today. 

As I head into this new year, I’m sure there will be some things come my way that will involve me changing the plans I already have laid out. But I am going to do my best to accept them and roll with the punches. I encourage you all to do the same. 

Who knows what might happen if we open ourselves up to change? I can’t wait to find out. 

Happy New Year!