"What's That Smell?"

We all have smells that remind us of something! Crayons and paste remind me of my kindergarten class. Skin-so-soft reminds me of catching lightning bugs in the evening and being covered from head to toe to avoid what we now call "West Nile Virus." The smell of oranges reminds me of sitting in front of Grammie and Pappy's fireplace in the winter and watching Grammie peel and feed us oranges. Bath and Body Works "Plumeria" reminds me of when Matt and I were dating. The smell of baby lotion takes me back to 4 precious years of my life as I slathered each of my babies from head to toe. Celery and onions and green bean casserole cooking reminds me of Thanksgiving and cinnamon and spruce reminds me of Christmas. We all have those certain smells that take us for a walk down memory lane. Joshua and Caleb are my two boys with super sensitive noses. (Poor Matthew can't smell because that would require breathing through your nose and his allergies prevent that.) They can smell pork chops cooking a block away and anytime they smell Clorox or Pine sol, they want to know who is coming over. Joshua and Caleb walked in from outside the other day and both said, "Hey, I didn't know it was fall already. It smells like fall in here. Yippy, fall is here." It took me a minute to understand where this talk of fall was coming from and then I remembered. I had just changed my wallflower plug-in to pumpkin spice. Now, normally year round I'm an apple girl, but we were all out of apple and fall was getting close so pumpkin spice it was. This smell sparked a memory in my boys. This is the smell of fall! This sensitivity to smell reminded me of a passage of scripture. 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him, For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being save and those who are perishing."  Wow! God has commissioned us to be His fragrance of Christ to the world. It makes me ask a few simple questions. Could that waiter today smell Jesus or a stench? Did those in the line at Walmart get a whiff of Jesus or were they turned off  by the smell? Do my neighbors and friends desire to spend time with me so they can take in that pleasant aroma or do they turn their nose and walk the other way? We are the aroma of Christ to those being saved and those who are perishing. I'm sure you have heard "You may be the only Jesus they ever see." Try this one "You may be the only Jesus they ever smell." Have you ever noticed that sights are not has repulsive as smells? It is hard to get a nasty smell out of the lining of your nose. However, a pleasant smell makes you want to linger and breathe deeply. I want to be such a fresh fragrance of Christ to this world that they long to breathe in the aroma of Jesus. I want to live is such a way that people chase after me and ask "What's That Smell?"