As I walked into the salon the strong overpowering smell of chemicals surrounded me. The aroma smelled so strong of chemical, subtly masked with a perfume fragrance that only makes the smell worse. The smell wasn't calming, pleasant or inviting. As I sat having my own hair processed, I quickly began to take on that same aroma that minutes earlier was so repulsive to me. Ten minutes in the salon turned into fifty and the longer I sat the less I smelled the strong fragrance.
My favorite part of having my hair done is when I am leaned back with my head in a sink and the stylist washes away the unpleasant fragrance and replaces it with a new sweet aroma.
I felt the warm spray as it massaged into my scalp, removing all of the chemicals from my hair. I was lost for a moment in complete relaxation of it all. Comfortable in the chair leaning back a new aroma took over the room. The aroma was sweet, calming and helped me to slip further and further into a relaxed state. With my eyes closed, I was able to rest in the quiet tranquility of the moment.
I felt the warm spray as it massaged into my scalp, removing all of the chemicals from my hair. I was lost for a moment in complete relaxation of it all. Comfortable in the chair leaning back a new aroma took over the room. The aroma was sweet, calming and helped me to slip further and further into a relaxed state. With my eyes closed, I was able to rest in the quiet tranquility of the moment.
I was suddenly unaware of the aroma that had once filled the whole building and was overtaken by the sweet smell that brought relaxation and peace to a crazy busy day.
2 Corinthians 2:14-17; says "...but thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task."
The aroma that penetrates your life is often quickly overtaken by the aroma that surrounds your body.
The putrid smell of trash on a hot day at the dump...
Curdled sour milk that unnaturally makes your face turn in the craziest of positions.
The unpleasant scent of cigarette smoke being blown directly into your face.
OR
The aroma from a freshly cut rose...
The sweet smell of a new born babies skin...
The fragrance from a fresh rain that causes you to feel as free as a child to dance in circles looking up without a care in the world.
God has given His children this unique ability to smell the unpleasant aroma of life. The ability to walk into a room and sense the tension, fear, death and life of your surroundings.
People know the aroma that you will bring before you even arrive. Those that are in daily contact with you anticipate your arrival, whether that will be good or bad.
The aroma you bring has the potential to change the fragrance of a room. A room reeking of gossip, slander and unpleasant talk can be exchanged for the sweet smell of laughter, hope and love.
God has given His children this unique ability to smell the unpleasant aroma of life. The ability to walk into a room and sense the tension, fear, death and life of your surroundings.
People know the aroma that you will bring before you even arrive. Those that are in daily contact with you anticipate your arrival, whether that will be good or bad.
The aroma you bring has the potential to change the fragrance of a room. A room reeking of gossip, slander and unpleasant talk can be exchanged for the sweet smell of laughter, hope and love.
What is the aroma you bring into a room?
Is it an aroma that quickly overtakes everything around you and brings with it an undeniable peace and relaxation that leaves others without words?
or
is it an aroma that is fragrant when you first come close but the freshness of it is quickly extinguished by the rotting and decay around?
Do you take on the smell already present in a room or do you allow the love of Christ to permeate from your pores causing the smell in the room to be changed?
I daily have to lay back in the sink and allow God to wash me clean of the unpleasant smell and replace it with a fragrance that can only come from Him. The aroma that comes from a life surrendered to God that is willing to follow His lead.
There are days that my stay at the sink take longer than others. With my eyes closed, the warm water of God's forgiving and renewing power wash over me. It is there that the skillful hands of my creator allow me to take on an aroma that is pleasing to Him and gives me the ability to offer a new fragrance in every room I walk into throughout my day.
Today will you allow God to wash you completely? Will you allow Him to take away the unpleasant aroma and replace it with His. Will you decide to take that aroma with you into whatever room or circumstance you encounter throughout your day?
Today I encourage you to be the sweet aroma of God to a dying and hurting marriage, family, work ......______________!
I daily have to lay back in the sink and allow God to wash me clean of the unpleasant smell and replace it with a fragrance that can only come from Him. The aroma that comes from a life surrendered to God that is willing to follow His lead.
There are days that my stay at the sink take longer than others. With my eyes closed, the warm water of God's forgiving and renewing power wash over me. It is there that the skillful hands of my creator allow me to take on an aroma that is pleasing to Him and gives me the ability to offer a new fragrance in every room I walk into throughout my day.
Today will you allow God to wash you completely? Will you allow Him to take away the unpleasant aroma and replace it with His. Will you decide to take that aroma with you into whatever room or circumstance you encounter throughout your day?
Today I encourage you to be the sweet aroma of God to a dying and hurting marriage, family, work ......______________!
Lord, today as we navigate this short life on earth may our interactions bring a sweet calm into the most trying of situations. Help us not to be overtaken by the unpleasant smell and overtake the world with the sweet fragrance that comes only from a life completely devoted to you! Let our lives ooze with a smell that is so different than anything smelled before and calls for all to ask for that fragrance. Lord help us to live solely to honor you. --Amen.
--Nicole Howes
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