What smells do you associate with Christmas? We had a real tree until I was in my early twenties, and I loved coming downstairs in the mornings to be greeted by its pine-scented freshness.
Then there was the food. My mother can’t eat or handle poultry because it literally turns her stomach. So the job of cooking the annual turkey fell to my grandmother. I always made sure I was at her house on Christmas Eve to soak up the smells. Nan made her own stuffing from scratch, so the aroma of sage and parsley merged with the bird roasting in the oven. These scents were uniquely Christmas, and one whiff of them takes me back to my childhood.
Finally, do you agree that even the Christmas decorations themselves have a certain scent? Especially the tinsel. You might argue it’s just the dust from the attic, but I think it’s the smell of Christmas.
Nowadays, you can buy festive candles or reed diffusers that fill your house with pine, cinnamon, or gingerbread, although I find some of these scents a little too artificial.
As Christians, we also have an aroma to share with the world, and it’s much more important than the smells of Christmas. In 2Corinthians chapter 2, verses 15-16, Paul says, “Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume.”
I like the idea of being a life-giving perfume, and I pray that the aroma of Jesus in me would be sweet, genuine, and even more attractive than the festive smells.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, may I spread your aroma everywhere I go, leaving your beautiful lingering fragrance of love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness behind when I leave and pointing others towareds you.
Song: Light in the window by Karen Peck and New River
Scriptures to Ponder
Matthew 5: 16: “In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
2Corinthians 5: 20: “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”