And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Matthew 6:28-30 KJV

When I was a young man, I would sometimes work for various farmers during haying season. Though putting up hay was hard work, and the pay (2¢ a bale) was not much, I loved the challenge of loading those 75 lbs. square bales as fast as we could up on the truck. By the time we reached the second level, I was barely able to lift the bales up higher, so the bigger men asked me to stand up on top and stack. Then they gleefully threw the bales up as hard as they could, seeing if they could knock me over! Making a game of it, transformed our backbreaking work into great fun and it seemed as if time flew as the stack grew higher and higher. Once we reached the sixth tier, the driver would head for the barn, and I, seated like a king on his throne, would surveil my kingdom from on high. As the slight breeze from the movement of the truck cooled the sweat from my arms, I could look out over the hayfield and see thousands of tiny wildflowers, now revealed, which had been hidden by the tall grass, before the mowing. The aroma of those flowers along with that of the freshly mown hay smelled better than the priciest perfumes at the store and they remind me of today’s verse. Jesus told us that since not even Solomon was dressed in finer clothing than that field, that we should not worry, because God would clothe us as well. Then, I think of the cross, where our Lord Jesus was stripped and nailed naked to its wooden beams, while the soldiers gambled for his clothing. Then, as the blood flowed down onto the ground, Jesus paid the price for your sins and for mine, and purchased for us robes of righteousness, so that we could be clothed in heaven. There we will be dressed as He is in clothing that shines brighter than the sun and with an aroma sweeter than the freshly mown hayfields of earth. There we will be clothed, not because of our hard work in God’s harvest field, but because of the amazing grace of Jesus, who bought our salvation with His own precious blood.