I was so tired after being out and about doing so many errands recently – not to mention the ache in my lower back from a recent injury – that I decided I could just absolutely not get back to the house and cook supper.  Picked up my phone and made a quick call to a favorite Chinese restaurant – picked up my order, curbside – and headed through the back roads to my house.

I was hungry!  It didn’t help that the deliciousness of the aroma of the food was filling my car more and more as each mile passed.  I wanted to rip open the bag, grab a chicken wing – and that would have been enough, I supposed to satisfy me until I reached 19 Berry Street.  But, no, they had that bag stapled like it had the Hope Diamond in it!  Or at least a new pair of Nike shoes. To try to open the bag while driving could have more than likely not ended well.  So I began to exercise a self-control over that Chinese food emitting a smell that otherwise could have carried me into a ditch.

Probably as a diversion, I began to think, ‘what other aromas are my favorite?’  The first one to pop into my head was newly mowed grass.  Mm-mm-m!  And of course, the ocean/salt air – nothing like it.  But my mind went back to food, and other favorite aromas were pizza (any Italian food), brownies, and dill (the national herb of Romania/all of Eastern Europe).  I could be drifted along a cloud just smelling dill cooking!  I could actually go on and on, but I limited myself to five favorite scents.  No more – just five.

That, then, led me to something else.  More than external amazing and wonderful smells, I thought of II Corinthians 2.15 – ‘For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ . . .’   And that begins with our mindset, our thoughts, our speech, conversations, interactions with others – what we put in print in an email, text message, tweet, private message, etc. – and how we handle an unwelcome phone call, perhaps.  Can I say that through all of these day to day I am the sweet aroma of Christ?  Not even close.  It is my intention to be so, but the ‘old nature’ can pop its ugly head up in a nano-second.  I find that my interactions with others fares a lot better the more time I spend in the Word – that I repeat Philippians 4.8 and dwell on Paul’s teaching in that verse.  For me, it’s a life-long practice of consciously hearing Paul’s words in II Corinthians 2.15.  We are the sweet fragrance of Christ.  If we have been saved by grace, we are like sweet smelling incense to Him.

As we go into our day, let’s take the sweet aroma of God everywhere we go so that others will come to know our Jesus.