The Trademark

I went to the store to buy one thing.
I needed my lipstick.
Well, I didn’t actually need my lipstick.
I needed to have some spare tubes to keep in my drawer.

Anyone that knows me knows that I do not go anywhere without my lipstick.
It is at my dressing table when I get ready each morning.
I have an extra tube in my desk drawer in the kitchen.
I carry my lipstick with me in a special compartment inside my purse.

I tell myself it is not vanity.
I tell myself that at this point in my life, it is simply my trademark.
Women are always told to recognize one facial feature they want to enhance.
For me, it is adding a little splash of color to my smile.

I walked up to the counter where I have gone many times before.
After all these years the women that work behind the Clinique counter know me.
After all these years, they remember the color of my lipstick.
As I approached them I felt like my husband.

When he goes to get his coffee after church on Sunday, the girl always has it ready for him.
He orders the same kind of coffee each week.
She knows exactly what it is and how he likes to drink it.
He walks out minutes after he walked in with his hot coffee in hand.

He is known for his coffee.
I am known for my lipstick.
My favorite salesgirl saw me.
She was waiting on someone else.

Another girl helped me as I told her the two things I needed.
Moisturizer and Vintage Wine lipstick please, I said since she didn’t know me as well.
She got the moisturizer and opened the drawer that contained the lipstick.
She was having a hard time finding it.

My favorite salesgirl walked over and went right to the exact spot.
Oh, I hope this is not one of the ones they are discontinuing, she said with a frown.
She got out a large binder which listed all the discontinued items.
She ran her finger down the list and stopped.

She grimaced.
They discontinued it, and then added, this is the second time this has happened to you.
She remembers; this has happened years before.
She had suggestions as to how to purchase my color from a few other places.

I was disappointed.
It was silly to be disappointed about a lipstick color.
But it was my trademark.
It was my signature color.

I was able to find one more tube at another store.
After my spare lipstick tubes are gone, I will need help trying to find another color.
Before I left the counter, I had about ten lines drawn on my hand.
The salesgirl tested various colors on my skin to see if they matched.

Some were close to my favorite lipstick but none was a perfect match.
I will be like Scarlett O’Hara and think about it tomorrow, or the next day, or the next.
I have a while before I am out of my lipstick completely.
But at least I have another trademark.

When my second daughter was born, I set out to find a new perfume.
I enjoy wearing a fragrance each day, however, I had grown tired of the one I was wearing.
I needed a change.
I had worn many Estee Lauder fragrances through the years, so that was my go-to counter.

In the late 1970s, Estee Lauder came up with an innovative idea.
They decided to layer fragrances.
They offered three new fragrances that could be worn separately or together.
The idea was that each woman could mix them according to her body chemistry.

None of those new fragrances appealed to me.
But another fragrance was so lovely.
I decided that this was the one.
This would be my new fragrance.

That was almost thirty years ago, and I have never changed.
I thought of that as I walked away in disappointment about my lipstick color.
Beautiful has been my signature fragrance since 1986.
Beautiful perfume is the fragrance that always features a bride in their advertisements.

As I was leaving the store, there was a new perfume that they were trying to sell.
I usually pass on those tester bottles since the fragrances are just not me.
But this day, there was someone who insisted that the new fragrance be tried.
This day, I actually had the new fragrance sprayed on my wrist.

You will love it, the girl at the counter said.
It is fruity, sweet, and spicy, she explained as she described the scent.
It was too late; I had no time to refuse.
A light mist came out of the tester bottle.

It was awful.
It was not subtle.
It was strong and literally seemed to get stuck in my nose.
It was not me at all.

I wiped my wrist with a hand wipe as soon as I got in my car.
The fragrance lingered.
I washed my hands and wrist when I got home.
The scent was still there.

The strong fragrance was even on the cuff of my shirt.
It was everywhere.
But the fragrance was not me.
I had a signature fragrance and this was not it.

I wondered if I was set in my ways.
Same fragrance.
Same lipstick color.
Same me.

Was I stuck in a rut?
Was I so set in my ways that I was not open to something new?
No and no.
I decided that it is fine to have a trademark; it just depends on what that trademark is.

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

My pondering brought me to one conclusion.
I have a trademark fragrance.
I have the aroma of Christ.
Wherever I go, I bring the fragrance of Him with me.

What a wonderful trademark to have.
A trademark that will never be discontinued.
A trademark that will offend some.
A trademark that will bless others.

The aroma of Christ.
A scent that lingers in the air long after I have left the room.
I want to be known by that fragrance.
I want to smell just like Him.