It is February 5th, 2009, and outside there is snow and ice, and we have been home-bound for nearly a week. News reports about the economy are more bleak than the weather. Yet, in the great northwest of this country, it is the end of the Balsam Harvest and Gary Young and his hand-picked experienced crew, along with a crew of Corporate Executives and Young Living Member/Volunteers are up at the Young Living Farm in St Maries, Idaho, and at a Balsam Plantation on the US-Canadian border harvesting Idaho Balsam Fir trees in the middle of night, in sub-zero weather, just so that we can have our glorious Idaho Balsam Fir essential oil.
If you have never smelled this oil, you have to get a bottle. What a fantastic oil!
Idaho Balsam Fir is known to stimulate the mind and relax the body. I think it’s great for inflammation, sore muscles, and headaches. Sleep with it for a couple of nights and see what happens for you. And the aroma, oh, it is like breathing that fresh, brisk, clean air found only in the high mountains where the giant fir trees reach right up and touch the spotless, clear sky. There is nothing like it in the whole world.
But I want to share with you why this oil and what they are doing up there in the frigid night air is so important. You see this type of stuff that Young Living does, nobody else does. There are plant growers, farmers, harvesters, distillers, and oil brokers, bottlers, oil sales people, and even a few individuals who grow their own plants, and distill and bottle their own oils, and sell them in a little shop somewhere, but there is nothing like Young Living anywhere else in the world.
I met a woman at a CARE conference for instructors back in 2004 or 2005 (CARE is the Center for Aromatherapy Research and Education and can be found at www.raindroptraining.com on the web). Anyway, I met another instructor who was there, named Mindy Kirby, who told several of us about her introduction to Young Living. Mindy, a licensed massage therapist, had her own herb and spice garden. She raised everything organic. She sang to her plants and played soothing music for them, and prayed for them. She had her own table top distiller, and distilled her own oils to use in her massage practice. Mindy was absolutely meticulous in her distilling practices, using only the best spring waters and being careful of distillation times and temperatures. And one day, a woman visited Mindy and told her, “You have really great oils, you should meet this guy Gary Young. You’d love his Young Living oils.”
Mindy said she thanked the woman, and took the information offered, but she wasn’t at all interested because she knew no one on the planet would ever take all the time and care and love to do what she did for her garden, her plants, and her oils. So, nothing else could be anywhere near so good as hers. That woman was just misinformed and undereducated. She just didn’t know the difference between good oils and great oils.
Well, a few weeks later, another woman came in Mindy’s shop and said, “Wow, it smells wonderful in here. You have really great oils. They smell almost as good as that guy Gary Young’s oils.”
Mindy said that made her really quite angry. What did she mean almost as good. Mindy really had to work to hold her tongue, but she managed. But really, she thought no one would make better oils than she did herself. They wouldn’t take the time, or give the plants and the oils the love, and the care and nurturing. It was too costly, too time consuming.
Then a few weeks later, another person came into her shop and said, ”You have some really great oils, here. You must really love your plants like that guy Gary Young. Only, you know, he does it on a much bigger scale.”
Mindy decided right then that she was going to find out who this Gary Young person was. And she was going to do it in a way that would prove these people were spreading lies because some yahoo told them things that they believed without ever questioning what they were being told. So Mindy took a vacation. She drove out to Utah, to the Young Living Farm, all the way from North Carolina, unannounced. Nobody knew her. No one knew she was coming. No appointments were made, no phone calls. Because she was going to just stop by and see what was there, and then she’d tell those yahoos a thing or two if they ever came back to her shop.
Well, when Mindy drove up to the Young Living Farm in Utah, and got out of her car, the first thing she heard was soft music floating on the breeze, and the smell of Lavender was a sweet, heavenly blanket that just wrapped itself around her. And there, standing out in the middle of the fields of Lavender talking to his plants, and loving them, and praying over them was none other than Gary Young. Mindy said she was stunned. These people weren’t crazy. They weren’t yahoos. They were telling her the truth. Gary Young was doing exactly the same thing she did only he was doing it on a massive scale. She became a Young Living member that day and says she has never regretted it.
Now, things change, and you probably won’t find that exact same scenario if you drive out to the Young Living Farms in Utah today, but if you were in St Maries helping with this Balsam Harvest, then you would know and you would believe in Young Living and in Gary Young. You couldn’t help yourself. When you test the mettle of a man and see him in adverse situations, and see the caring heart of the man, and understand what drives him to do the things he does, you cannot help but admire him. You may not agree with him on everything he does, but you have to admire what he has accomplished, and the passion he has for oils.
I had the privilege of participating in 7 trainings taught by Gary Young and some of the most wonderful memories of my lifetime were at those trainings. If you have the opportunity to participate in the Lavender Harvest, do it. If you have the opportunity to go to Ecuador to study with Gary, do it. If you have the opportunity to spend any time with Gary Young, DO IT.
I am so grateful to David and Lee Stewart, and to my dear sweet husband, Ed, who got me to that first training with Gary. It was in Toronto, Canada, in October, 1999. That training changed my life for the better, in ways that I could not have begun to imagine. It cannot be expected or projected, it can only be experienced. And hearing many of the same comments, almost word for word, from the people who were up at that Balsam Harvest as I had made myself during those early trainings with Gary Young all those years ago, brought back so many heart-warming memories.
When you know Gary Young, when you work side by side with him, when you face adversity with him, you will know the truth and integrity and determination and vision of the man who founded Young Living Essential Oils.
I know many of you are struggling right now, and/or living in areas where all the people around you are struggling. What do you think all these people were doing up there harvesting Balsam at below zero temperatures and working 20 hour days or longer, many of the corporate executives and volunteers doing jobs they knew little or nothing about? They were struggling. Struggling to keep up. Struggling to keep going. Struggling to be safe. Struggling to help and do whatever had to be done. Struggling against the cold and the pain and the lack of sleep. Yet they entered into this struggle willingly. Why?
They were entering into struggle willingly in order to create something wonderful, magnificent, and healing.
They were pouring their hearts and souls, and love, into every tree and every twig and every action, so that all of us could enjoy the benefits of Idaho Balsam Fir oil.
Most of us seek to avoid struggle and adversity, pain and suffering. But here’s the truth…
Times of adversity are the birthplace of opportunity and prosperity.
Adversity creates hardship and that motivates us to do something. But you get to choose. You can either sit on the sidelines and cry and complain, or you can do something. What you do is going to determine how much opportunity and prosperity you experience.
Think about it…
Why do we have electric lights instead of oil lamps? Because of the years of struggle made by a few men like Tesla, Edison and Westinghouse. They knew they could do something to make life better for others, even though everyone said they were wasting their time on an insolvable problem – how to get electricity in every home.
Why do we have washing machines instead of wash boards? Why do we have electric dishwashers instead of continuing to wash dishes the old fashioned way? Why do we have computers instead of slide rules? Because of the hardships endured by many, many people and the desire to avoid hardship.
Why do we have a phone and email? Why do we have America’s Most Wanted, and Amber Alerts, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. These things and many, many more were all born out of adversity.
Every fiction writer is taught that without conflict there is no story. Without obstacles to overcome there is no hero who succeeds. God is the Master Story Writer, and I tell you now that the adversity this country and her people are facing is preparation for a brighter future, if we do not fall into sloth and negativity. And if you are facing adversity in your life today, then truly it is come to you as a blessing and not for your harm. But you must pick yourself up. You must reject the temptation of self pity and doubt. You must take positive action and keep your mind strongly anchored in positive thoughts.
Joel Osteen says:
We all have seasons when the challenges of life feel overwhelming. During those times it’s easy to be tempted to talk about how bad things are…But the more you talk about something, the bigger it becomes in your mind. Instead, you’ve got to dig your heels in and say, “No. I am not going to give life to that defeat. I am not going to speak sickness over myself. I’m not going to speak lack. I’m not going to speak fear. I’m choosing a different report. I believe the report of the Lord which says I am blessed. I am favored. I am prosperous. I am healthy. I am whole. I am a victor, not a victim.”
Remember, even if you don’t see how things could ever work out, God does. You’ve got to speak to those mountains in your life and declare God’s favor over those situations. Instead of talking to God about how big your problems are, talk to your problems about how big your God is. As you speak to your mountains, they will be moved, and you will move forward into the victory God has prepared for you.
Do you know why Gary Young and all those other folks are up there in frigid temperatures and harsh conditions doing this?
Because there is this tiny window of time when the temperature is cold enough and the days short enough, that the very best quality of oil comes up strong in those trees. And that means they can harvest the fewest trees and get a high production of oil, as well as the best quality of oil.
Now what company on the planet, what millionaire, would go to such trouble, go through so much adversity, just to collect a few gallons of oil from a small patch of timber?
Only Young Living. Only Gary Young. And when you hear the joy that tinges every word spoken by the people who are up there, you know what Young Living is all about.
Remember: Adversity is the Birthplace of Opportunity and Prosperity. Don’t run from it. Don’t hide from it. Embrace it and just see what Miracles Happen in Your Life.
