A Fading Rose bursting with Sweet Perfume

    

In the tall glass vase in front of me stands a statuesque rose, a Buxom Beauty. A vibrant pink in its heyday, the colour is now fading into a more antique version of pink, and the outlying petals are beginning to brown and dry out.

Still, the magnificent rose has a beauty about it, different from last week, but still arresting in its appearance and fragrance.

In fact, the fragrance seems to have intensified as the visual appearance of the rose has begun to fade.

How true to life this metaphor in front of me is! We are friends with many octogenarians and even nonagenarians, all of whom have the fragrance of a gentle and quiet spirit, and the wisdom of years.

Life is fleeting. Life is good. Celebrate life today, whether you are a newly flowering or a fading rose. 

Let the fragrance of Jesus fill the atmosphere where you live and move and have your being. Let the fruits of the Spirit ripen and sweeten in the experience of those who know and love you.

Live life to the full. That’s what Jesus came to give us. Embrace the moment.

Heady Hyacinths

Three white hyacinths burst forth into bloom last night, spreading a sweet aroma through the room. 

They sit in front of me as I write, and I inhale deeply, savouring their heady scent.

A single pink hyacinth is about to open too, perched on the mantel piece and ready to burst forth.

Smells are so evocative. The smell of hot cross buns as I enter the supermarket takes me straight to Good Friday afternoon, after the 3- hour service at church, when Mom would bake the hot cross buns and Judy and I would frost them, to be eaten with dinner that night and over the ensuing weekend until all were consumed. Sweet memory.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ...’ That is incredible. That we carry the aroma of Christ, the fragrance of the King of Kings. I know someone who is very partial to Chanel; in fact, I am myself; but this is miles better. Imagine being dabbed by the fragrance of Jesus, a perfume mixed of purity and self-sacrifice, love and goodness, mercy and forgiveness, justice and kindness and joy. 

Yes. Those are the ingredients I value in my perfume. I am so grateful that when God the Father catches a whiff of me, it is the whiff of Jesus, and not the noxious whiff I might otherwise emit, a perfume mixed of bitterness and regret, unforgiveness and selfishness, envy and strife and critical thoughts, injustice, meanness and anger.

Thanks be to Jesus for his wonderful aroma of life.