Has a scent ever taken you to another time, another place? It happened to me today as I was shopping for groceries. I was pushing my cart and a sweet elderly passed by me. And little did she know it, but the "White Shoulders" perfume that she was wearing transported me far away.
My Grandma wore that same fragrance and just the scent of her took me back to the farm where she and Grandpa lived. I was eating pastel-colored marshmallows from her cupboard and learning to recognize the song of the "Bob White" birds. I was watching cars go past on the dirt road while sitting in metal chairs on the front porch. I shelled peas. I gathered eggs. I fished with a cane pole and a bobber and rode on a board on the back of Grandpa's tractor. I patiently waited while Grandma turned the television antennae that was mounted on a pole outside so I could watch a fuzzy game show. I colored. I sang. I got told a million times not to put my fingers in the box fan. And I fell asleep tucked under cool, scratchy, line-dried sheets that smelled like sunshine.
And then...I pulled my cart into the checkout line. That dear lady had no idea that her scent would have such a great impact on me today. She was being who she was. She was going about her day, taking care of her business.
So what things fragrance my life? As I go about my day, do my actions remind people of Jesus? Does the aroma of my choices draw people to the Savior? Or does the stench of hypocrisy surround me? When my husband, my boys, and my friends catch my scent, will it bring memories of faithfulness and joy or of wasted potential or a critical spirit?
Here's the thing: my scent (both figuratively and literally) is my choice. And I choose to become a sweet fragrance to my Lord.
2 Corinthians 2:15-16
