He Makes Me Smell Good

I love a good perfume. The search for just the right scent, the one suited for my body chemistry, is worth the hunt. The different ingredients and formulas needed to produce the perfect smell is worth the search and price when you find your prize.

Last week I used my last vapor of perfume.  The one that meets all the above-mentioned requirements. Not willing to settle for a different smell, I waited. On Thursday as I left work much later then anticipated, I sent my husband a message to let him know I was on the way home. His reply, “Be careful, and I’ll have dinner waiting.” When I walked in, there it was, a nicely wrapped box sitting at my place at the table. The table was set, complete with candles, music was playing, a delicious smell wafting from the oven, and The Box.  I knew from the shape and size what was inside without opening it, yet my excitement was not diminished. We shared some hugs, a few kisses, a lovely dinner and the gift. I was like a child at Christmas as I unwrapped the pink paper to find my new bottle of perfume. My perfect scent. As I picked up the bottle to give myself a quick squirt, I became acutely aware of the aroma of Christ. That’s what He does; He makes me smell better. He is the perfect scent for me. Not only is it pleasing to me, others notice and comment. But the best is that it’s pleasing to Him.

2 Corinthians 12:14-15: But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

What could smell better than the sweet aroma of Christ surging through us and up to the Father? Oh how He loves, oh how He gives, oh how he delights in us….and He has dinner ready too!

I Have No Friends

Today I realized I had no friends. Not real ones. It happened around 8:30 am as I pulled my chair to the vanity, picked up my tweezers and turned on the light of truth–you know, the one that magnifies 300X. The shock and horror that met my eyes would make a child scream and run for cover.  Why had no one told me?  It wasn’t as if I had been in a remote cabin for the last month. No, I had co-workers in my office, meetings, and lunch dates with girlfriends and not one had mentioned my eyebrows, not even my husband!

The Bible says that all things are laid bare before the Lord.  Just because I can’t see the stray sin, thoughts or actions, others close to me can and the Lord can.  When the Holy Spirit turns on the light of the magnifying mirror and shows us what we have not seen, it can be horrifying.  Thankfully the Holy Spirit tweezers can pluck the now visible strays in a miraculous way.  Perhaps that’s what Jesus meant in Luke 6:42 when He said, “First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.“

Next time you see a log in my brow, be my friend and tell me I have some plucking to do!