If you had to compare yourself to an animal, do you know what you would choose? I do. I would have to say a hound dog. Why? Because, I’m the type of person who is very keen on the various aromas and scents of our world; both pleasant and stinky
Honestly, I think I am more aware of smells than most people and it makes sense. You see, while my eyesight and hearing has never been that great, my sense of smell is very well developed. Like the brain of a hound dog, my brain has a rather large portion of it devoted to detecting odors.
A good example of this happened a few years ago when I was attending a conference in another city. During a break, I was talking to a coworker as we stood in the hallway when the fragrance of chlorine hit my nostrils. I took in a big sniff and announced: “There’s a pool nearby!”
“How do you know that? ” my coworker asked.
“Because I smell it.” With that, I spun around and followed the scent with her behind me. I was going to say follow it like a hound dog, but I had my nose in the air instead of on the ground. With each sniff, the smell grew stronger. Soon we came upon an indoor pool. “See?” I proudly proclaimed as I pointed to it.
“I can’t believe you sniffed out a pool. That’s amazing,” she said.
I simply shrugged and answered, “It’s a gift.”
Then came the day I thought my hound dog gift has let me down. I was walking our dog Roxie one spring evening. Everything seemed to be fine. That was until we turned by the backside of the house. That’s when I saw it. Roxie growled and I almost screamed. Roxie and I ran back to the kitchen door. I burst into the house and told Tim, “We almost got sprayed! There’s a skunk lying at the first basement window.” He ran outside to check it out.
I stayed behind in the kitchen. To be honest, I was in a state of shock. How did I not smell the skunk? Let’s fact it, that’s a rather pungent odor. Then I began to worry that I was losing my ability to smell. It was the one sense that I could always count on. What was I going to do now?
“For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:” 2 Corinthians 2:15 (KJV)
In this verse, Paul is referring to the celebration of victory. In his time, when the Roman army was victorious, they would have a parade in which they burned incense. I believe Paul was using this as a metaphor. When we belong to Christ, we are victorious in our savior and God is realizing the sweetness of that. Are you a sweet aroma to the Lord?
When Tim came back inside, he informed me that the skunk was dead and it had probably been day for a few hours. While it no longer had the “skunk” smell, it hadn’t been dead long enough to have another unpleasant smell. So, I guess you can say that I caught it just right as far as aromas go. But you know what? Even if I had been sprayed, I would have still smelled sweet to the Lord.
Brooke Cox is an auth:or, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.