a sweet aroma

I'm amazed how a particular scent can take me back
and trigger memories from yesteryear.

My parents' church has met in my old elementary school for the past 25 years.
Each time I step into the former cafeteria,
the scent transports me back to my grade school days.
All these years later, it smells exactly the same.
The memories of sucking up jello through a straw
and slurping tomato cup-o-soup are right there as if time stood still.

Sweet scents and lovely fragrances are important to me.
Throughout the years,
God has impressed on my heart
that smell---and each of our senses---
is a gift from Him.
It's not to be overlooked or taken for granted or ignored.
It's to be embraced and celebrated.
For it reflects Him.

I want my home and my surroundings to smell especially sweet.
I believe that a mood can be set through fragrance,
and I want to create an atmosphere that
welcomes home family and extends an open door to loved ones;
an atmosphere that invites them to linger; to stay.
I want to help create images and memories for our boys---
that  no matter where they go,
particular scents will take them back home
and remind them where they came from.

My favorite spring lilacs will soon be in bloom,
and I'll gather armloads to bring into our home.
I'll inhale their sweetness,
breathe in deeply,
close my eyes,
and smile.
For their fragrance motivates and inspires me.
And it points me back to Scripture,
reminding me that we are the means through which
Christ spreads His fragrance everywhere.


But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.  2 Corinthians 2:14-16