WHAT'S THAT SMELL?

You've heard it said that every home has a unique smell. Not necessarily bad or good, just different. It makes a statement of all things there. The people, the food, the laundry soap, candles and air-fresheners.

Not a new realization for me but I chuckled when I heard it again, my mind immediately imagining what my home smells like to others. Depending on the day you come through our doors the aroma could change. A dirty diaper from the one-year old I babysit, a dog needing a bath, a bag of popcorn left too long in the microwave or a pile of well used shoes could be your first aromatic experience within our four walls. But not all smells here are bad... I love candles and oil burners and when I cook it usually smells good.

It's probably safe to assume that for most of us women, smell is a big deal. We like our men to smell good and our homes to smell clean. We do our best to teach our children personal hygiene and if you are like me, think nothing of directing a teenage boy to a shower when needed.

Millions of dollars are spent on marketing towards our bent. Out of curiosity I checked the names on some of what I currently have laying around. Coastal woods, Sun splashed, Hawaiian tropics, Fireside and Tropical Escape. If only the smell itself could take us there.

But what if we looked at smell differently? 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 says, “But thanks be to God! For through what Christ has done, He has triumphed over us so that now wherever we go He uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Gospel like a sweet perfume. As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us, an aroma to both the saved and the unsaved all around us”.

Can you imagine a new line of fragrances for the home that truly creates the atmosphere stated on the jar?

Love and Acceptance

Faith in the unknown

Humility

Forgiveness

Esteeming others better than myself

Flexibility

Boldness in Truth

Joy

Encouragement

Gratitude

Contentment

Patience

Here is the best part.... “because of what Christ has done, and His triumph over us”, the fragrance is already in us. It is because of what HE has done in us that we should smell good. Smells are unavoidable...you don't see them coming, but you know when they are there. You've been around people like that....good and bad. Some people just ooze the Presence of Jesus, others may look the same on the outside but the stench in unavoidable.

We live in the country, in an old home built in 1890. No matter how well we think we have things sealed up an occasional mouse will find its way in through the old basement. It will consume some of the poison we have hidden around and make its final resting place somewhere inside a wall that is impossible to get to. We know its there because we smell it, but will never be able to find it. No amount of air-fresheners, Lysol spray or candles will take it away. In fact, I have learned that trying to cover it with a good smell only makes a more confusing stench.

What candle do you need to light in your home today? Or maybe more importantly ...what stench needs to be dug out? Does your home smell of fear, criticism and arrogance? If you're like me, some rooms smell ok, but in others, the door is best kept shut. Does the work of Christ in us refresh and attract like a wholesome fragrance or do our mixed messages confuse like cheap perfume imitations?

What candle will you commit to lighting in your home today?