Thankful for, but not missing, tobacco

I enjoy reading an online Facebook group about tobacco farming. Being raised on a tobacco farm here in Sampson County, I especially enjoy seeing old pictures posted of tobacco life, like tobacco barns and warehouses, people working in the fields and at the barn, and old tractors. I can relate to many of those photos, spending my early years in the middle of tobacco growing and selling.

But I can’t relate to comments that sometimes appear underneath those photos on the Facebook page. Folks will sometimes post comments like, “I miss those days,” or “Those were good times.” To be honest, I don’t miss those days.

There were some good times. Being young and working with family, friends and neighbors had its moments. But it was hard work. I don’t miss getting up before dawn to take out a barn of tobacco. Or being drenched in the mornings from the morning dew, or from a rainfall from the night before. Or later that day, when the moisture would become sweat, as the summer heat would bake you. And that would continue until late that day, after hanging that last stick of tobacco in the barn. Then I would finally head to the house to get some rest, knowing the next day would probably bring the same routine once again.

I don’t miss those times. I am thankful today for the lessons learned about life on the tobacco farm, thankful that tobacco provided income for our family, and thankful for all those friends and family that were around me during those days. I am thankful, but I don’t miss it.

One of the things growing up in tobacco I don’t miss, and it wasn’t a good time, was topping and suckering tobacco. When the tobacco plants grew to maturity, workers had to go through the field, snapping off the flowering buds at the top of the plants, and plucking out the volunteer growths, called suckers, that would grow out from the base of the tobacco leaves.

It was a hot, messy, and sticky job. And if it was wet, you would probably get stinging tobacco juice in your eye sometime before you were through. As a kid, I wondered why you had to go through all the aggravation. The flowers at the top of the plant were actually pretty and the suckers weren’t bothering anyone. At least, they weren’t bothering me.

Later, Daddy explained to me the reason for the bother. The flowers at the top of the plant and the suckers were sucking valuable fertilizer and nutrients out of the tobacco plant that was meant for the leaves. (Yep, that’s why they were called “suckers.” Duh!) The tobacco leaves were what you sold at the market. You wanted those leaves to weigh as much as possible and mature fully. They were your crop, your livelihood. That’s why you planted the crop and went through all the trouble in the first place.

I was reminded of those much younger days of topping and suckering tobacco recently while reading in the Book of John in the Bible. In chapter fifteen, Jesus compares us to a branch on a plant, like a grapevine. Like the tobacco plant that needs topping and suckering, he stated that his followers needed “pruning” in order to properly bear fruit.

During the winter I pruned back crepe myrtles, and have pruned grapevines in the past. Pruning is necessary for a plant to grow as it should. And it is necessary for us, if we are to become what we were meant to be. Sometimes the pruning is difficult. Like the pretty flower at the top of the tobacco plant, that relationship, habit, whatever, may look nice. But it is draining away your potential, what you were created for. There needs to be some pruning done.

Many years ago, I was going through a very difficult time. It seems like God often uses those difficult times to do his best pruning. In the midst of that time, I heard a quote form Charles Stanley that explains the pruning process. Stanley said, “Knowing your potential, God is not going to leave you alone.” Yes, He is going to prune you.

Why? Like, just like the tobacco farmer wants the best result possible from his crop, God wants the same for us. He wants us to bear “much fruit.” So, if you feel like you are being pruned right now, take heart. Realize He’s not going to leave you alone. God knows your potential.