take a whiff

I picked a shirt out of my drawer and smelled the armpits. This is not a normal routine, but this shirt seems to hold my unique fragrance longer than most shirts. Perhaps it’s because I only wear it to work out and that I’ve had it for seven years. All, the same, I smelled it and thought, it’s not that bad.

Really Sarah? There shouldn’t be anything TO SMELL! (Yes, you’re right, voice in my head.)

Later on I visited a friend whose sole purpose for the day was to veg out. A big accomplishment would be showering. “My hair reeks,” she warned. I took her word for it, but the honesty made me laugh. I offered my shirt to smell to make her feel better.

Maybe stinky feathers flock together.

Ironically enough, I had just read in my Bible from 2 Corinthians that God wants us to be the aroma of Jesus. “A sweet fragrance to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere.” Paul writes that some will perceive the fragrance as beautiful and life-giving for they are people who are saved and know the goodness “Christ Cologne.” Others will perceive the fragrance as smelly armpits and rotten eggs, all death and decay.

So, Hmm… What do I smell like? I mean figuratively, I’ve already confessed to a “unique” clinging body odor. I mean does my life give off the odor of Christ? Are others drawn to him, his sweetness, his life-giving grace and truth? Or are people turned off, more willing to decay because of how I make Jesus smell? Worse yet, do people smell anything? For if I don’t give off a fragrance, indifference and stagnation may have taken over my life and others’ lives in my world. Of course, God can work even with stinky ones like me. I’m grateful Christ can live in me and be fruitful even despite me, but I certainly shouldn’t make his job harder. And as a believer and one who desires to be a sweet smell, I need to help others smell the goodness and know God better and better.

I pray that regardless of how laundered my clothes are and clean my hair, I can live in such a way to boast the “Christ Cologne.”

P.S. This entry and a bit of garlic might confirm a perpetual singleness. May God be glorified either way: smelly and single or smelly and situated.