IMG_2677Morning glory.

The grapes of wrath have come and gone from the San Joaquin Valley, but hopes and dreams, justice and mercy, loves and longings are still being worked out, day by day, year after year. Heaven has not yet come to earth– even in the Golden Valley of the Golden State.

But there are signposts in this strange but beautiful land. Good people still do good work on this good land. With its sunshine, deep, rich soil, and water– sometimes water –anything and everything grows here. Melons, safflower, almonds, carrots, oranges, and so much more, including cattle by the thousands. A cornucopia of crops.

Most of us who walk into our Safeways, Von’s, Krogers, Giants and Giant Eagles, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, HEBs, and more, all across America, never ever imagine that our food is grown by someone somewhere. We simply assume that the shelves will be full of our daily desires.

IMG_2683But of all that I don’t know about life and the world, I remember to remember what I’ve always known, growing up where I grew up, that somewhere men and women have awakened to the morning light, taken up their vocations one more day– and in working to care for their land, bring food to our tables.

That is a gift.

Steven Garber has been a teacher of many people in many places, including his long work as Senior Fellow for Vocation and the Common Good for the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, and as Senior Advisor for the Economics of Mutuality Alliance, and Access Ventures. The founding principal of the Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation and Culture, for several years he was the Professor of Marketplace Theology at Regent College, and continues on as Senior Fellow for the Institute for Marketplace Transformation in Vancouver, BC. The author of several books, including Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good, The Seamless Life: A Tapestry of Love and Learning, Worship and Work, and most recently, Hints of Hope: Essays on Making Peace with the Proximate, with his wife Meg he has a life among family, friends and flowers in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Meet Steve