Why isn’t there a word for lacking the sense of smell? You are blind if you can’t see, deaf if you can’t hear, numb if you can’t feel…
Our sense of smell has always intrigued me. That something I can’t detect with any of my other senses could be so powerful is fascinating to me. A strong bad smell is like walking into a brick wall. It can clear a room. An olfactorily-challenged person (too clumsy?) would wonder why everyone is running away. They could enjoy peaceful solitude just by using rotting fish incense.
Or to me, the smell of cigarettes makes me crinkle my nose and move on. The thing is, that smell travels far. Astoundingly so. I’m often amazed by being able to smell a smoker in a different car while driving down the freeway with my windows closed. (Really!) Or while sitting at an outdoor cafe, I can smell someone smoking at a different cafe on the other side of a parking lot. I don’t think people who smoke have any idea how pervasive the smell can be. To be fair, it doesn’t seem possible. And yet, to me it’s like someone walking up with their rotting fish incense.
Fortunately good smells can be just as pervasive. I often smell something beautiful and look all over until I find the flowering plant emanating the aroma. Or if the donut shop across the street from my cafe starts making fresh donuts, I will know and start to salivate.
Today’s verse reminds me that God made me in His image. He can smell too! He created the little droplets or flecks that float around in the air that my nose collects and my brain interprets as a smell, good or bad. Magical.
God can smell, and He loves a good aroma. Interestingly, to Him, love has a really good fragrance. It is delightfully aromatic when His children love each other. It’s His favorite smell.
But He plugs His nose and turns away when sin shows up. If I want God to leave me alone, all I have to do is be selfish or mean. That kind of behavior is like a fart in an elevator to God.
Fortunately, as today’s verse says, Jesus cleared the air and provided His loving sacrifice to fill my life with the fragrance of joy and beauty.
Dear God,
I don’t want you to be repulsed by me. I don’t want to push you away with an ugly odor. Thank you for your forgiveness and for giving me the beautiful fragrance of Jesus to exude instead. Please guide my behavior so that it fills people with joy like a pleasant smell.
CamDevo 