Recently I had a conversation with a friend who also owned a small business. They were discouraged with our current economic climate and felt there was no way to change our situation. I can completely understand the feelings of uncertainty that the last few years have brought especially to us that own small businesses. However, I myself being an eternal optimist have this hope in small changes, through small faithfulness. We can’t possibly change the world by ourselves. Policy, government or even big business can’t improve our situations alone.
I believe if each of us are faithful in the little things we are called to be faithful in, we can change the world together.
It is no secret our economy is in trouble, our dollar is losing its value daily and our earth is sick and dying. All of these things can seem terrifying when we look at them from a world view. I am but one small person, with one small income and only 24 hours of my own time in a day. Let's say our family food budget is $100 a week. I can choose to go to a big box store and buy food from across the world. My dollar is in turn going all around the world as well. The food available in big box stores is typically older meaning less nutrition, it is typically more processed and also requires packaging and fossil fuel to get it to its final destination in the store. When I spend money in this way it might be convenient and possibly cheaper but there is a bigger unseen cost. There is a cost on our natural resources, and a cost on our local economy. Each purchase I take away from a small business and give to a big business greatly impacts those small farms, independently owned grocery stores, family run hardware stores and so on. The list of impacts is great and unfortunately the amount of small businesses are getting smaller every day.
On the other side I have seen firsthand the impact on our small business when families choose to shop local for even just one item. As we have had more and more families make the switch to buying Organic Grass-fed Raw Milk from our farm each week instead of from a big box store they make a difference, a huge difference actually. During the pandemic when many families turned to us because the big box stores were empty we were able to become a debt free farm again, we were able to replace some very old equipment and invest back into the land. Now that the more convenient big box stores are stocked again however we’ve also felt that impact too.
I digress on the main topic however and that is we are all called to do our part. We all are here on this earth for a purpose, to leave the land, the people and our community better than it was before. We must be faithful in the little things; spreading kindness, sowing seeds of love and passing on good character traits to the next generation, leaving them a planet that is regenerating and thriving! This is not an overwhelming concept we just have to grasp that there is a cause and effect to every decision we make in life. What is one thing you can do today to make a difference? Let’s all try to be a little bit more faithful in the small things and together we can change the world.
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