God’s Perfume
Gram and Miss Fairy (practically an aunt, only better since she had no children of her own and lavished her love extravagantly on me—and on my other siblings and cousins, too, of course) both used Youth Dew perfume by Estee Lauder. Gram always smelled so good to me and Miss Fairy used the same perfume. I used to get hand me downs from Miss Fairy and there was always the scent of Youth Dew on the clothes I got from her. My closet smelled like Miss Fairy. After they were both gone on to Heaven, a whiff of Youth Dew brought them back.
Because I loved the two of them and wanted to be like them, I tried to make that Youth Dew my signature scent, sure that more of them would rub off on me. But, alas, it was too strong and did not represent who I was. I switched to Beautiful by Estee Lauder, because it still hinted of them. But even that did not suit me. But I wanted some smell that reminded others of me, something that would instantly bring me to mind, so I kept looking. Eventually I found Moonlight Path and made it my own. I love it when someone says, “You smell so good. What are you wearing?”
I admit in my search I had some major goofs. Perhaps the most dramatic one was the perfume I sprayed liberally, then desperately tried to wash off as I gagged and threw up!
If you read the fashion expert’s advice about how to choose a “signature scent,” you will read that it must fit your personality. There are little quizzes that claim to help you choose the right scent. According to them, you must consider the food you love, the kind of music you listen to, the kind of movies you like, the places you like to go for vacation. All of these answers will help you choose the fragrance that will still smell amazing hours after you have applied it. Of course you want to choose something that others will not find overpowering or irritating. You want just the right one.
This week I read in II Corinthians 2 these verses:
“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.”
That concept of God’s perfume has for many years captured my imagination and my longings. We are to be the fragrance, the perfume, of Christ, to both other Christians and nonbelievers. Our presence should remind others of Him.
Do we evoke sweet smells and memories? I mentioned Gram. Gram drew others to her, in a cliché, like bees to honey. I wanted desperately to be like her. I knew that her love for God and for the Bible and for others was what made her unique. I even took as a life verse the same one she used. It was Psalm 16:11, “Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy; At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.” I knew that her secret was found in Him. She was God’s sweet perfume to those she met.
Unfortunately, I know that just as I sometimes have violently negative reactions to certain aromas, so sometimes we are not a sweet fragrance of Christ to others. Sometimes we stink. I spoke to a young man the other day who, because of the “fragrance” put off by his father, is nauseated by his father’s conception of God. He isn’t sure what he believes now, but he knows he does not want to believe anything his father believed. His father and others who claimed to be Christians have filled his nostrils with the smell of death. I cry almost every time I think of him.
So what kind of perfume am I to others? Am I Christ’s perfume, wooing others to want to love Him and know Him as I do? Or am I stench in their nostrils, a strong, irritating odor, pushing them away from the God I claim to represent? Oh, God! Help me to be a sweet perfume, drawing others to You.
~Faith Himes Lamb
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