Sustainable Faith

There are certain scents that bring nostalgia to me.  Chanel No. 5 reminds me of my husband’s grandmother.  The fragrance Charlie was the go-to perfume for me in high school.  I smell  paste, and I’m back in elementary school.  The smell of rubber cement, and I’m gluing BB’s to my ear lobes in middle school, before being allowed to pierce my ears.  Christmas brings with it a whole array of smells that help usher us into the season.

There are also aromas that trigger negative feelings.  I had a friend, who after spending months going to the hospital for cancer treatments, couldn’t enter again without experiencing a violent reaction to the familiar, dreaded smells.  For city folks, the idea of living in the country surrounded by the smell of bovine feces is enough to keep us close to home.

Take time this week to be attentive to the smells around you, and the emotions they stir within.  Are they related to Christmas? To relationships?  To events?  Do these smells trigger nostalgia, joy, dread?  And as you consider this, imagine what it means that we are called “the aroma of Christ to God.”