Loyalty

By Rennie Phillips

If you shop at a farmer's market, you know they are neat in many ways. For many of the markets there are no concrete standards as far as the kind of produce, how it's grown and the price. No real standards makes it interesting Some produce appear to come right off some truck having been shipped here from. Most is locally grown. If the produce is locally grown you can inquire as to whether it was sprayed and when and what it was sprayed with. If it's shipped in, it is guess and by golly.

My test as to whether it was raised locally is a taste test. If you are wondering buy one and taste it. I've done this. We have gone to a market which is advertising home grown tomatoes so we'll buy one and taste it. My eye sight, my hearing and the feeling in my hands isn't like it used to be but I can still tell the difference between a home grown and shipped in tomato.

We've watched buyers go from vendor to vendor buying the cheapest product, but we have also watched buyers select a vendor with a good product and buy just from them. We buy fruit from one vendor fairly often, because they have good produce and they are a good couple. Repeat loyal buyers would seem to be a vendors best friend.

My Uncle Mick, Dad's brother, always drove a GMC. Always. Not a Chevy but a GMC. I still don't know the difference between a Chevy and GMC, but he was a loyal GMC driver. Maybe he was loyal to the dealer. I don't know. Most likely he was loyal to both the make and the dealer. Maybe at one time Uncle Mick had a super experience with a GMC or a bunch of them and just decided to stick with that same brand.

A good friend of mine, Lendy Wiggins, always wore Big Smith bib overalls. In all the years I knew Lendy I don't believe I ever saw him in anything but Big Smith bibs. I had tried bibs but never really wore them on a regular basis, so when I met Lendy we bought some Big Smith bibs for me. I really liked them. So I started to wear them on a regular basis, or I probably should say wore them all the time. About the only time I don't wear bibs is when I preach a funeral.

But last couple years I've had trouble getting them to fit. Seems like they are way too long and I end up walking on the end of the pants legs. Or they are way too big compared to the size they are supposed to be. But I like Big Smith and I tend to be loyal. But I also had a pair of Keys and I really liked the fit, so we ordered some online in a size that wasn't available locally. Mistake. Nothing like the pair I had about worn out. But my loyalty still lies with Big Smith and Keys.

Loyalty also applies to just about everything when it comes down to it. Loyalty to an employer or loyalty to an employee. An employer can earn the loyalty of those who work there with good honest wages and benefts. One employer that's a friend of mine kept right on paying an employee for years when they came down with cancer and couldn't work. I tip my hat to both the employer and employee who are celebrating 20 or 30 or 40 years together. My wife has worked for the university for over 30 years. Says a lot for her work ethic. She is loyal. I believe she's a keeper so I'll just keep her.

Loyalty I believe is a big part of marriages either making it or failing. Fireworks and gushy feelings and stars will work for a year or two in a marriage but the everyday reality of marriage will eventually set in. There is going to be a lot of dirty dishes and dirty clothes and on and on. But in my opinion what will determine if they break up or make it is loyalty to each other, a determination to go the distance. Don't get me wrong here. The love they have for each other grows and matures and changes. But that mindset that they will make it will help them go the distance.

Loyalty is alive and well in our churches. We attend a small church where most of those who attend have been there for years and years. Some have probably grown up in the church, and are loyal to the church and not the preacher. Preachers may come and go but that church and the people are there to stay. I like that.

Our loyalty will be there and get stronger till something happens that upsets the apple cart. We buy a lemon of a vehicle. Our spouse does us wrong. That horse we have ridden for years bucks us off for no apparent reason. Something happens at work that ruins our loyalty. Maybe you go out for a meal and it's a bummer.

I tend to give them another chance. Maybe they were having a bad hair day. Take the lemon back to the dealer and see if they'll find a solution. Maybe there's a cocklebur stuck to your saddle pad. Don't just give up but give it some time to get better. Your loyalty just might make the difference in someone's life or business as they are going through a difficult period of their life.