Practicing God's Presence in What We Smell

An Introduction to Season 6: Smell

Coming off of Summer and entering Fall, my sense of smell always seems to be heightened. When the flowers are in bloom, I make a point to "stop and smell the roses." One in particular smells like pink lemonade and another is hard to explain but just imagine the best rose you ever did smell. Even more than these, my favorite has long been the fragrance of a magnolia bloom. There is just nothing like it in this world. It's the perfect fresh, clean scent.

Another scent which has become a treasure for me in recent years is honeysuckle. Ever since my baby girl was born, we like to go on walks together, and since that first Spring, we'd walk past honeysuckles and the sweet scent would waft ever so casually in the air and energize this momma to keep going, pushing that stroller up the hills and through the trees of the pathway before us.

Walking by the honeysuckle one day while passing an older lady walking the opposite direction, a simple but deep thought came to me: that would be me one day. And "one day" would come faster than I'd like.

These days of pushing a stroller are such a gift to me, truly. When I was a little girl, I loved playing with my baby dolls and it was a big day for little Candace when I received a double stroller to push my babies around. So, when 'Dubs and I were preparing for our firstborn, seeing a stroller by the Christmas tree with a great big bow on it immediately took me back to the Christmas years before when I received my first stroller. Only this time, it was for our sweet baby. Special only begins to describe it.

So yes, stroller walks are near and very dear to my heart, but one day they will pass and before I know it, my hair will be gray and I may be walking this path or a similar path without my cute little tag-along baby girl with me. And when I do, it won't take much - just the faintest scent of honeysuckle will bring me right back to these first days of motherhood.

...when I was so impatient with my postpartum figure and wanted to get as many steps in as possible. I know I'll look back and laugh at myself and all the adjustments I was experiencing for the first time, but mostly I will remember this sweet child of mine - so little, full of so much innocence, her sweet toothless grin and bouncy giggle, and how she loved going on walks with us.

Our sense of smell is powerful. It can energize us, invigorate our other senses to pay attention to something, transplant us into a distant memory within just a moment...

...but it can also overwhelm us.

Ever drive past a pig farm? I remember we did once as a family. It was late at night and all of us kids were asleep in the car, that is until we passed the pig farm. We didn't recognize it as a pig farm at first, so of course the blame game of "Who did it?!" was it full swing. Rolling down the window only made it worse. That's when we realized what we were driving past. The stink stank so bad, it felt like it was seeping into the car. Everyone had their shirt collar covering their nose, no talking for fear you might inhale the disgusting fumes. If this were a cartoon, the car would be coated in that dreaded and awful green haze. Would the '90s cloth seats of the family 'burb ever recover? Thankfully they did, but that smell was so overwhelming, it felt like we could taste it.

Ick!

I'm so glad I don't have to drive by a pig farm regularly but there is a water treatment plant in town which creates some major PTSD triggers in me. There are no bridges over waterways in Oklahoma, but we get to play the "who can hold their breath the longest" car game when we drive past this plant.

Indeed, a smell is powerful. It can be good or bad and can linger, both physically and also cognitively in our memories, taking us back to a specific moment in time. You and I don't think of it much, but we carry a scent with us too, one that has the power to touch or trigger people into thoughts and maybe even memories.

Everywhere we go, something is wafting in the air, impacting those around us. I'm not talking about our deodorant, perfume or cologne choice, though there is that and it's just kind to wear some. But, have you ever thought about what scent your life offers to others? Is it the sweetness of a honeysuckle or the rancid rank of a heart that has been "through a lot" and seeming a bit more like a water treatment plant, where all the muck comes together and just sits? Maybe there's hurt and pain from your past. The trauma may not have been your fault but it's been swept under the rug and it's impacting your ability to connect with yourself and therefore those around you today. Said another way, it's stinking up your relationships.

The scent our lives offer is always a matter of the heart, but how do you measure where your heart is spiritually? Have you ever thought about this? Truth is, we all do it whether we consider ourselves spiritual or not.

Is it a moral thermometer for you? Do you judge how you're doing based on what you watched, listened to, clicked on, food you ate or didn't eat, the words you said or withheld? Is it whether you took a few minutes to read the Bible that day or say a prayer or think about someone else's needs?

The thing about those gauges, from my experience, they give us a surface-level reading and in the end, they puff us up or deflate us ...quick. And when they do, well, our eyes are back on ourselves.

So, is there another way, a better way, we can measure where we're at spiritually? Yes, there is, but it may be different than you expect... I think it's as easy as a sniff-test.

I think this is what Jesus was talking about when He said we would be able to tell a tree by its fruit. What is inside comes out.

What we put inside ourselves affects the quality of the soil of our hearts - those elements of the moral thermometer (what we're watching, listening to, clicking on, eating, saying, reading, thinking about, serving) - and what is inside will come out.

It will come out as love or as irritability, perhaps in the middle somewhere as tolerance.

It will come out as joy and gratitude or as negativity and complaining.

It will come out as peace or as stress.

It will come out as patience and long-suffering or as impatience.

It will come out as kindness or as meanness, maybe a sharp or cross tone or an eye roll or avoidance of another.

It will come out as goodness or as hurts.

It will come out as gentleness or as reactivity.

It will come out as faithfulness to what is good, beautiful and true or as mixed up priorities and carelessness.

It will come out as self-control and a spirit yielded to a higher power or as us taking matters into our own hands.

What if we start measuring our spiritual health by what Jesus said - by the fruit present? By the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control present or the fruitlessness - the irritability, tolerance, negativity, stress, impatience, the meanness, sharp tones, eye rolls, avoidance, hurts, reactivity, mixed up priorities, carelessness, and number of times and ways we try to take things into our own hands because we "know what needs to be done here."

The fruit of the Spirit, as it's referred to in the book of Galatians, can be understood similar to an orange - one fruit with nine parts which creates a wonderfully attractive, sweet scent. One that other people want to be around.

As we yield to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit takes over and we bear fruit. But here's the thing - a tree doesn't bear fruit for it's own use. No, it bears fruit for others to enjoy. It's the same for us. When we live our lives yielded to the Holy Spirit, abiding with the Father, this fruit and this heavenly scent becomes part of us. But, it's not meant for us. It's meant for others - to taste and see the goodness of the Lord, to experience something completely out of this world, something so upside down to what this world and culture says is expected: loving your neighbor, rejoicing in trials, forgiving the one who hurt you, serving those who can do nothing for you. This is the most wonderful smell in the world. No floral or citrus can come close to the beauty of the fragrance of the Lord.

And God has offered this fragrance and made a way for us to bear His scent.

Paul explains it this way (see if you can smell the good and the bad as you read this passage):

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.- Galatians 5:13-26

When Jesus said He came to give us life and life to the full, He wasn't just talking about one day but right here and right now. We have a choice whether we carry the scent of life and fruitfulness on us or if we remain soaked in the stench of sin and death.

Our spiritual formation is focused on our own individual development but it is meant for others, meaning the fruit which comes as we spiritually mature will be for the benefit of others. They will receive breaths of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control as they interact with us. It will waft in the room and linger, inviting them into this gift of freedom we know.

Because I want us to be a people who carry this scent of sweet fruitfulness everywhere we go, we are going to spend some time diving into each one of these and learning how fragrance of the Lord lingers on us as we live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit.

As we discussed before, "Beauty will save us," so let's prayerfully ask God, "Father, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to feel and understand. As we do, may we learn to walk in step with the Spirit of Holiness and may Your fragrance of heaven linger on us and be a gift we give to others - so they may be drawn to this scent and come to taste and see for themselves the goodness and wonder of your love."

If we are to experience the wonder of God's love - to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, to be filled with the fullness of God, we need to awaken our souls to this Beauty here with us.

Our new mini-series on smelling the wonders of His love is just getting started, and I so hope you'll join us back here next week - same time, same place - for more encouragement.

Our strength grows as we rely on strength from above. Our joy grows as we see God transforming us from the inside out. Our peace grows as we spend time in God's presence, and we find rest when we intentionally seek the Lord first in our lives, for the Lord is ever our portion.

The good life, well it starts with a good day. Then another. Then another. Let's choose to live #TheGoodDay one day at a time.