From the Farm: The Black Friday Gates edition
🌾 From the Farm: The Black Friday Gates Edition
Simple living • Faith reflections • Clean choices
Today’s video comes straight from my truck, because sometimes the best stories — and the clearest truths — show up in the middle of real life.
I had just finished a vendor event, watching people pour in by the hundreds… arms full of giant shopping bags from the big box body store. Some of them stood in line for over an hour to walk through those doors and grab the “deal of the day.”
But as they walked out — excited, bags swinging — many of them passed right by my booth without even slowing down.
And right there, sitting in the middle of all that Black Friday energy, a verse came to mind:
“Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
— Matthew 7:13–14
No, I’m not saying big stores are evil or that a lotion deal is the broad road to destruction — not at all.
But I couldn’t help thinking about the analogy.
The wide gate is flashy.
It’s easy.
It’s crowded.
Everyone’s doing it.
And on the surface, it looks really good.
The narrow gate is quieter.
It’s slower.
It takes intention.
You don’t have a crowd rushing you toward it.
And sometimes, people walk right past it without realizing what they’re missing.
That’s what it felt like watching people skip over high-quality, nontoxic, small-business products to chase a deal they’d been conditioned to want.
Not because they’re bad people.
Not because they’re making “wrong choices.”
Just because the wide gate is easier to see.
Sometimes the good things in life require looking up, slowing down, or choosing differently than everyone around you.
Sometimes the narrow gate is a little booth tucked into a corner at a vendor event.
Sometimes it’s a cleaner product.
Sometimes it’s a lifestyle change.
Sometimes it’s a faith decision.
Sometimes it’s stepping away from what everyone else is doing and choosing what gives you life — not just excitement in the moment.
And today, I was reminded:
I’d rather stand by the narrow gate with the few than rush the wide one with the many.
Thanks for sitting in the truck with me for this reflection.
Farm life… faith… clean living… it all weaves together more than we think
