“Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good.”
-Alice May Brock, author (b. 1941)

Sometimes I have said to Lori, “you smell”. Usually that comment is met with a wrinkled nose or furled brow. But always I say it to catch her off guard because she smells GREAT. Pretty sure I heard once that smell is one of the things we remember or recall with the most clarity and the most emotion. Ah, yes – “Odor-evoked memories may seem clearer or more intense than other memories because they appear to be more emotional than memories triggered by visual, audio or other types of cues” (isn’t Google great?).

What makes what I do, His? What fragrance do I give off that indicates that I am a child of God? I know I need to be different, think different, act different, but are people noticing? If I manage to walk through their lives and leave no lingering fragrance, then who am I? I am not His. And the message, the importance of Christ should definitely reach people on an emotional level, for it is a matter of their salvation, their eternal life.

What smells will you leave behind today? Okay, yeah, that sounds like an odd question. And the answer isn’t “garlic”.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16 – 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? like men sent from God.