Jan
24
2019
Signature Scent
Posted in Evangelism 4 Comments
It was Bible study day.
The morning is a busy one, as I get ready for all the women to come to my home.
I bake in the morning.
I make coffee and put the hot water on for tea.
You love it, my husband always says.
I do.
It is a privilege to teach God’s Word.
I love seeing my house full, my kitchen warm, and the women’s hearts eager to learn.
The women come in and talk for a while.
They pour their coffee or tea.
They take a piece of whatever I had baked that morning.
It warms my heart to see them talk among themselves before we begin.
One woman walked into my kitchen.
Your house always smells like gingerbread, she said sweetly.
It’s probably everything I baked this morning, I answered.
There was no gingerbread in sight.
Maybe it’s my candle, I said as she got closer to read the scent on the label.
Country Store is the scent I enjoy the most.
It is a mix of wonderful baking smells and spices.
Perhaps it was a mix of those things she enjoyed as she breathed it in.
My husband is traveling for a few days.
My youngest daughter and I wanted to get our favorite salads from a Greek restaurant.
I called ahead and decided we would eat them at home.
My salad had salmon on it, while my daughter’s salad had grilled chicken.
I went into the restaurant to pick up our salads.
I got back into the car to drive home.
As I was driving, I smelled the wonderful smells of the restaurant on my coat.
Those smells made me even more hungry and anxious to get home to eat my salad.
I thought of Sunday mornings, when my husband wants to get a cup of coffee after church.
He never goes to the drive through.
He always walks inside.
He has an App on his phone for his favorite coffee shop and pays through his phone as well.
Every Sunday, it is the same.
Every Sunday they see him pull in the parking space.
Every Sunday, they have his coffee ready for him, nice and hot, just as he likes it.
Every Sunday, he gets back in the car with his coat smelling like coffee.
I do not often stop at a convenience store.
I get gas for my car at the pumps but rarely go inside.
On occasion, if the printer cannot print my receipt, I will go inside.
When I get back in the car, I smell all the smells of the convenience store on my coat.
Sometimes, when I am getting dressed, I change my mind and switch to another outfit.
Later in the day, when I walk into my closet, I smell my perfume.
The scent lingers on the clothes I put back on the hanger.
The scent lingers on the scarves I like to wear around my neck.
It is your signature scent, someone once told me.
I have been wearing the same perfume for over thirty years.
I guess that description is accurate.
Even though I smell my perfume on my clothes, I never smell it on me.
I am too used to the smell, I guess.
It has just become the way of things.
It is my signature scent that others smell and recognize.
I spray my perfume on every day, but never notice the scent that everyone else notices.
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.
(2 Corinthians 2:14-16)
We are God’s instruments to spread His aroma.
Our aroma is the aroma of Christ.
We are an aroma that is pleasant and life giving to some.
We are an aroma that is putrid and smells like death to others.
We may not even notice His smell on us.
We exude His aroma without even knowing it.
Everywhere we walk, His smell lingers.
The aroma is unmistakably Him and not us.
One day, we will meet our Lord Jesus face to face.
We will know Him by His scars; wounds that His great love incurred for us.
We will run to His arms that are open wide to embrace us.
In that instant, we will realize that we smell just like Him.
We, who are in Christ, have a signature scent.
It lingers on our clothes.
It lingers in our countenance.
It lingers so that others may know Him through us.
Praise God that He gave us a signature scent.
Praise God that our signature scent smells just like Him.
May it linger.
May it waft all around us as we walk and draw people to Him.
Be the aroma of Christ to all you meet.
You may not smell His aroma on you, but others do.
Be glad that His fragrance lingers.
Breathe deep and take a whiff of His sweet aroma.
This post brought up memories of so many signature scents in my life.
Aroma has such power.
I needed this reminder to let the aroma of Christ permeate my life.
Mollie,
Aroma does trigger so many memories for us.
I pray for His aroma to permeate my life, too.
Miss you, friend!
Gina
Love this post–we need to remember that our aroma is what others notice. Let it be one of love for God and for them.
Amen, Sue!
I want people to remember His aroma when I leave the room.
Gina