On my recent trip through Lancaster County, Pa., I just had to stop and take in a beautiful farm scene. That setting had a calming effect that took my thoughts to a higher realm.

Fields were being worked. Someone was opening a gate for cattle to pass through. Children were sitting under a shade tree. What caught my eye the most was the clothesline between the house and barn. It was washday. 

I’ve seen it hundreds of times before; but that day was different. Something in my spirit caused me to stop and praise God. Then it hit me: I was seeing farm life now and our future life in Heaven.

Consider washed clothes (clean robes), shade tree (tree of life), opening a gate (gates into the city). We all need our robes washed to enter that heavenly city. Revelation 22:14 says: "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city."

Yes, I know there are hard times and many difficulties on every farm, just as there are for those who don’t experience the agrarian life style. But a beautiful, peaceful place awaits us when the gates of Heaven are opened to us. You and I must be ready for that washday.

Doug Smith,
Millville, Pa.

Smith is part of the Northeast Pennsylvania chapter of Fellowship of Christian Farmers International. For more about FCFI, visit fcfi.org.