Wake up and Smell the Coffee

Wake up and smell the coffee.

Thank goodness it’s no longer just Nescafe here in Scotland. I like my coffee strong and black, but there are certainly a lot of other options available today to satisfy every taste. Does it wake me up in the morning? Not sure, but it sure can keep me awake at night!

On a glorious day like today, I’m very aware of the sounds of spring: I heard my first Cuckoo this morning, and a hungry blackbird serenaded me as I dug over a patch of garden. I also notice the fragrance of spring. The coconutty scent of gorse and broom; the freshly cut lawn smell; the variety of pleasant fragrances from spring flowers.

When I manage to be very attentive, I sometimes catch a whiff of the fragrance of Jesus. In the midst of an unhappy situation, there may be a sudden gesture of kindness which is sourced in the divine. 

Usually, though, I’m not so attentive, but then I can be blindsided by the aroma of Jesus, transforming the atmosphere. I caught a sniff of Jesus this morning during a conversation with someone who has no faith in him. But the love and compassion for another revealed that the Lord has faith in him.

Love. As the song declares, it’s all around us, perceptible through all of our senses.

So wake up and smell the Lord. And smile.

Diffused fragrance and peace

A terracotta ring with a doughnut hole in the middle. When a fragrant oil is added, and it is placed on an electric light bulb, the heat from the bulb diffuses the fragrance into the room.

It was recommended recently for sinusitis: put menthol crystals in the channel and the pungent odour will fill the room and help clear congestion.

When we stay close to the light, he fills the empty channel of our hearts with his presence, and the fragrance draws others. May I live close to Jesus today, so that his beautiful fragrance revives and refreshes others through me.

Washing Cycle

Washing machine churning away again. When the weather is as settled as this, I just have an urge to throw all the blankets, mattress protectors, bedding into the wash to get it dried and aired in a few hours. There is something so lovely about the fragrance of clean linen air dried amongst the flowers in the garden.

Spending time in Jesus’ presence, focused and aware of him, is a bit like being hurled into the washing machine! Some stubborn stains get released. Some may take future washings, hotter water, more soap. Then hanging out with him, hopefully draws in some of his beautiful fragrance which can be detected when we are out there in the world.

Fragrant Lily

I was given a gift the other day. An ordinary tin pot with a bag of soil in it, and a bulb of great promise. One day, if I get out there and plant it, we will enjoy the beauty and fragrance of an exotic, glorious lily.

God has given us all the gift of life. Most of us look pretty ordinary, but there is promise with the gift. When we plant the Spirit within our heart, others can enjoy the beauty and fragrance of our exotic, glorious Saviour Jesus.

Happy Easter.

Fragrance of Friendship

Our world bubbles over with diversity, each unique individual exuding a beautiful fragrance all her own. Just like these gorgeous flowers, different colours, shapes and fragrances ... every one a delight to know. 

What a gift when friends arrive to share time together, and they are bearing such lovely, living presents. 

One of God’s greatest gifts is the gift of hospitality, which opens the heart and home and deepens the joy and laughter and forges steely bonds of love. Every one is blessed: the person fortunate enough to have something to share and the person included in the sharing. 

Huge gratitude to God for all our friends and family. We are truly blessed and enveloped in the sweet aroma of Jesus himself.

Weeds in the Garden

I’ve heard it said that a weed is a plant or flower growing wherever it isn’t wanted. But we’ve had lots of beautiful plants over the years growing where they weren’t wanted. They weren’t weeds, so we moved them. 

Some survived. Some didn’t. The peony bloomed beautifully this year in its new location. The gooseberries keep producing fruit despite all lack of care and attention, having been moved from a fertile garden to what is essentially the grass verge.

There are a lot of ugly situations in this world, and sometimes in the midst of devastation a flower springs up. Look at the poppies on the WWI battlefields.

There are indeed true weeds, pernicious things like ground elder and nettles which can get hold and be a challenge to eradicate. They can get a stranglehold on genuine flowers and smother the tender plants you struggle to cultivate. They can leach nutrients from the soil and leave plants limp and withering.

Important to examine the inner garden of the heart, to check if any pernicious weeds have been allowed to take hold, to see if any fragrant flowers are in danger of withering for want of nurture. Good to do that with a Bible and time with the Lord. Good to do it with a prayer partner or a soul mate. Good to do it regularly, especially in a toxic climate.

Be

Pull back. Gain perspective.

Lean in. Smell the fragrance of love.

Look up. See the glory breaking through the clouds.

Look out. Experience the breathtaking beauty of this world.

Sit still. Allow the divine artist to colour your thoughts.

Breathe deep. Inhale the life-giving Spirit.

Let go. Trust God to hold you.

Listen. Hear his voice.

Buxom Beauty

Be Real!

One of my friends often exclaims, ‘Get real!’ or ‘Be real!’ when she feels something is being glossed over or denied. 

This is a question of identity. To be real is to be true to yourself, and it is so easy to get muddled about who you really are. You may feel like one person with your parents, another with your kids, another with friends or colleagues or spouse. But you aren’t many people. You are one person, a solid identity, and the rest of the forms are just facades or imitations of who you may think you are expected to be.

As a Christian, my identity is in Christ, who made me unique. He is the one I am living to, and the one I am living from. He has given me gifts which only I can exercise in my own inimitable way, but if I am constantly readjusting who I feel I ought to be then I am unlikely to be true to the person he made me to be. 

I’m not much of a psychologist and I get impatient with trying to be too psychoanalytical, so for me, it’s all about prayer. I need to just keep praying that God will break off, or prune, those parts of ‘me’ which are not really ‘me’, and that he will facilitate and encourage the growth of those unique parts of me which he yearns to see flower. Each of us has a unique fragrance to bring into this world, the fragrance of Jesus mingled with the fragrance of who we are in Jesus. 

This is a lifetime’s work for me, anyway. I want to live true to myself and true to who Christ made me to be. I want to exercise gifts which reveal the love of the Lord Jesus who lives in me. 

We had some ferocious winds a couple of weeks ago. They ‘burned’ some of the beautiful roses which were opening and even forced some not to open at all, but to remain tightly closed until they finally grew black and withered. I don’t want to allow the winds of experiences, the winds of fears of what others think, the winds of others' expectations of me, or the winds of doubt to freeze the bud I am and prevent me from opening out into the fragrant rose God made me to be. 

The roses I’m referring to are a strain called ‘Buxom Beauty’ because they are so voluptuously large and intoxicatingly fragrant. I want my spirit to be a full-blown buxom beauty, voluptuously large and intoxicatingly fragrant with the perfume of my Lord and King Jesus. 

Don’t you?