I am fascinated by the affect that smells can have on us; where they can bring us. Have you ever walked into your parents home on Christmas Eve and been taken back to your childhood by the smells of the home when you walked in? One of my college roommates still remembers the smell of a particular girl at school whenever he smells the scent of vanilla perfume, or vanilla anything really. There is the smell of fresh cut grass that reminds me of summer. The smell of the road right after a mid-summer rain storm is another. The smell of a fire in the fireplace or at a campsite makes me think of comfort and warmth after being cold. Each of these and countless others brings us all back to a place in our lives, perhaps good perhaps bad, but the scent... sends us somewhere.
These last couple of mornings I have left my apartment a little earlier than usual for school orientation. When I walked outside I was greeted by some familiar smells. I smelled the morning dew. I smells the fresh crisp morning air. I smelled the smell that I remember smelling on those early days of September when I would be going back to school. It reminds me of the nervousness of seeing students and friends I had not seen all summer long. It reminds me of cutting up paper grocery bags to make book covers for them. It reminds me of heavy backpacks. It reminds me of football practice, classes, lunchrooms, fire drills, homework... it reminds me of the first day of school. What a coincidence I am in orientation for my first day of school... post grad to be exact.
It has been many years since I rode my bike to school, I may be doing that again (out of choice) The backpack is now a shoulder bag, there is no gym class or study halls, some classes have like fifty people in them, some possibly more, there are a ton of things that are different. The one thing that is the same is the early morning September smell from years ago. I am thirty three years old, I am pursuing a Master's degree but this morning, for a brief moment, I was eight years old on the first day of school.
I wonder sometimes, when smells remind Jesus of the cross. I wonder what smells remind Jesus of a fire side denial. What was going through Peter's mind (as a fisherman) when he set foot out of the boat. When Jesus taught in the temple courts during the week before his crucifixion was he reminded about the time he was left there by his parents? When he was teaching there at twelve years old was he thinking of the time he would turn over tables? Are there smells that make Jesus think of me? The smell of denial, of compassion, of forgiveness. If Jesus were to "smell" my life, where would that take him? Can we say, "our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God..." as 2Corinthians talks about? What do "smell like to God? What does God think of when he catches a whiff of your life??
Just a thought...
