time

Only a few more weeks and our youngest daughter will be home from college. I love having the girls home and being able to see them every day and here about their days and make memories with them. Every time, after this daughter leaves to go back to school, I have a hard time going into her room. Not only does her room remind me of her, but the smell of her perfume always lingers in the air. When the smell of her perfume permeates my senses, I am reminded of her in an even stronger way. Sometimes, I think the smell causes me to tear up more than the sight of her room. Our senses are a strange thing.

This is a positive association I have with smell.

On the flip side, I had a different experience a few weeks ago. All day long as I went through my day, I kept smelling this smell. It smelled like fish. It didn’t seem to matter where I went or what I did, I could smell this fishy smell. I started smelling my shirt, my hair, my skin. You name it, I was smelling it. I may have even smelled my feet. Even though I could smell this fish smell, I could not figure out where it was coming from. As the day was drawing to a close, I smelled the pocket of my pants. That was where the terrible fish smell was coming from. I had accidentally washed one of my fish oil pills and it had spread its wonderful smell to the pocket of my pants.

This was obviously a very negative smell association.

As I went through my day smelling fish oil, I began to think about my life. What kind of smell/aroma was I giving off with my actions, attitudes, or words? How was I spending my time, talents, or treasure? Did these things show forth Christ or did they show forth my own selfish desires and ambitions? Am I worshipping my Savior and Lord with my life or am I worshipping the idols of my heart?

I was reminded of Ephesians 5:1, 2. “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

In order to give off the sweet smell like my daughter’s perfume rather than the smell of fish oil, I need to be an imitator of God. An imitator of God, walks in love. Not only does an imitator of God walk in love but they willingly sacrifice for others. Jesus not only sacrificed His life on the cross for me, He also sacrificed His life on the cross for the thieves hanging next to Him, the Roman soldiers who crucified Him, and all the onlookers standing there that day.

Does every word, action, or attitude bring glory and honor to my Father in heaven or bring honor and glory to myself? Does the person who leaves my presence feel encouraged and challenged to look to God in heaven or discouraged?

Pastor Townsend used to remind us that we are either joy givers or joy suckers. Do you ever think that many of the decisions you make in life could be put into these two categories? Every decision that we make is reflection on who we are as a person and if we are believers, it is a reflection on our Savior.

Are you a joy giver or a joy sucker?

Let’s look at small decisions of how we spend our time, talents, and treasure. When you make a decision about going somewhere are you early, on time, or late? If someone has to wait for you because you are late, whose time is more important to you? What aroma are you giving off?

Has God given you talents and abilities that you are not using for His honor and glory? What aroma are you giving off?

The treasure that God has so generously given you, do spend your money with the thought of being a good steward with what God has given you? Or do you spend your money with your own selfish desires in mind?

Every decision we make, every word we speak, every action we do speaks of what is in our hearts. The way we spend our time, talents, and treasure gives off an aroma of being either an imitator of God or seeking after our own pleasures. Every decision we make.

Are you a sweet smelling perfume that brings smiles and sweet memories to those you leave behind or are you the stink of fish oil? I think I washed those pants about 5 different times using all sorts of different products to get rid of the smell. The fish oil did not bring about smiles and sweet memories, but rather was a lot of work to get rid of.

Ephesians 5:1, 2. “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”