A lasting scent

   

  

One thing I look forward to every spring is when the lilac trees bloom.  They are one of my favorite flower fragrances other than roses (just throwing that in here in case my husband reads this😄). The lilacs have been in full bloom this last week, and I've been enjoying having my grandkids bring me branches of them.  And while I think they are pretty, there are many other more beautiful flowers in nature.  For me, the reason I love lilacs so much is their scent.  A bouquet of lilac blossoms can fill an entire room with their fragrance.  

    The other evening while we were making supper, I noticed a branch lying on the kitchen counter.  It was all withered and flattened, but I still picked it up and held it close to my nose. 

      I breathed in and was surprised to still smell its beautiful fragrance.  I commented to my daughter that I hadn't expected it to still smell so nice.  She made a very thought-provoking observation, and I've been mulling it over in my mind for a couple days now.  She said that the dead lilac is a good picture of how we should leave behind a good "scent" when we die.

     When she made that statement, I immediately thought of Janice Hanson.  She was a dear sweet lady from our church who passed away several years ago now.  She always had a smile and loved to quilt.  She loved that our cat's name was Archibald, and used good old Minnesota expressions like, "Oh, for cute!"  She could be feisty too, but she was the kind of person that made you smile just from spending time with her.  Every time I think of her, I smile.  I picture her in heaven in the middle of some heavenly choir with her big smile praising her Saviour.  She is someone in my life who left a beautiful lasting scent.

    Unfortunately, there are those who leave a rather unpleasant scent behind.  Have you heard someone say, "I shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but..." and then go on to recount the negative impact the deceased had on them?  Often new parents have trouble choosing a name for their baby because one will suggest a name, but the other parent remembers someone with that name, and the negative scent left behind by that person's actions impacts them so that they don't want their child to share a name with such a person. 

     As my husband and I were sitting outdoors the other evening, we saw our cat at the end of our lengthy driveway.  She started to go down in the ditch but then turned around and came racing back up towards the house.  I remembered that my son had seen a skunk down there earlier in the day, and we were joking about Pepe Le Pew chasing her.  For those of you who are not as old as me, Pepe Le Pew was a cartoon skunk who was always trying to woo a black female cat who had accidentally gotten a white stripe on her back.  Needless to say, she was repulsed by Pepe's horrible odor and aggressive pursuit of her.  That's what I thought of when I thought of leaving behind a repulsive scent.  I sure don't want to live in such a way that others do their best to avoid me now and speak ill of me when I'm gone.

     The Bible has a couple examples of ways that we can produce a sweet scent to others.  Ephesians 5:2 says, "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour." When we love others sacrificially like Christ loved us, it's a sweet smell to them and to God.  Like a bouquet of fragrant lilacs brightens my day, our love for others will brighten theirs.  Life gets busy, but we need to make time to show our love for those around us.  

     In Philippians 4:18 Paul tells the Christians at Philippi that he had received the gift that they had sent him and that it was "an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God."  When we genuinely care for others and put their needs before our own it is a pleasant scent, a lilac moment.  If you have ever had someone come alongside you when you had a specific need and meet that need for you, you know what I'm talking about.  Paul considered their gift a sweet scent not only to himself but to God as well.  Do you know someone today who may have a need that you could meet?  I encourage you to be a sweet refreshing scent in their careworn day.

     Recently, our church did a Scripture memory program.  We learned many verses on different topics, and one of them was witnessing.  One of the verses that stuck out to me was 2 Corinthians 2:14.  Paul writes, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place."  Paul was telling the Corinthians and us that it is God who gives us the ability to live a victorious Christian life, and that our life makes the sweet scent of the gospel reach out to every place.  He goes on in the following verses to explain that we are a scent of life unto life or of death unto death.  In Roman times, a conquering general would return to Rome with captives.  Those who were destined to live would carry a sweet-smelling incense, and those who were destined to die would have to carry a foul-smelling incense.  Paul was using that picture to say that we should carry the sweet smell of Christ to those around us.

      Amazing what one little shriveled lilac can lead to, but I'm glad my daughter shared that thought with me.  I want to leave behind a lilac scent and not be remembered as a Pepe Le Pew!