Smellin’ Good?

It’s orange blossom season where I live. The entire backyard smells wonderful as my orange tree blooms. I’m really sensitive to smells, so it can become overwhelming when the wind blows.

When I was alone in my car recently, I could smell my husband’s cologne. I don’t know how it had ‘rubbed off’ on the seat or steering wheel, but in that moment, it felt like he was near. It warmed my heart and made me smile.

It reminds me that my life can bring a fragrance of life wherever I go. Or a stench. Bringing a life-giving aroma to the world around us is important. Making our world a better place is choosing to see each individual through eyes that aren’t from our natural realm. There are some folks I don’t agree with in many ways. I don’t like how they treat me. I want them to give me respect. But I can only make choices for me. I can respond instead of react. Speaking the truth and loving well can go together, but I find it really difficult. I’d rather just avoid any confrontation. Somehow it helps me navigate a difficult conversation when I think of what our relationship will ‘smell’ like after the conversation. How will they remember the things I said?

We don’t have to back down from the truth. Nor do we have to agree or try to change others. My mom used to tell us we could agree to disagree. Our world needs to hear truth. We’re all broken in various ways and there’s only one real ‘fixer’. Being The Way, The Truth and The Life got him killed. But His plan was beyond what that looked like. It was a win for humankind, not a defeat.

When we choose to be life-givers that bring the fragrance and hope of God, that ‘smell’ may be offensive to some. I can be afraid and silenced, or I can be courageous and un-offendable.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 NIV

Copyright © 2018 Nadine Patton

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One thought on “Smellin’ Good?

  1. Stephanie

    Very true perspective! Thanks for sharing & encouraging others with this sweet word.

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