His Fragrance

Many years ago, a friend had a "smelly" crisis on her hands: her dog had a "too-close” encounter with a skunk, then came into her house.  The skunk’s odor had soon permeated her carpet, drapes, sofa, recliner ... yes, the smell was everywhere!  For days, she worked to remove the smell.  Her experience reminded me of a passage written by Henry Gariepy.  What a beautiful picture for us how time spent with The Savior infuses His Fragrance in us, making our lives the “pleasing aroma of Christ” to others (2 Corinthians 2:15). 

 

"Roses are grown for the Vienna market in great profusion and with much distillation of fragrance. We are told that if you were to visit that valley at the time of the rose crop, wherever you would go the rest of the day, the fragrance you would carry with you would betray where you had been.  There is a beautiful parable given to us by the Persian poet and moralist, Saadi. The poet was given a bit of ordinary clay. The clay was so aromatic with sweet perfume that its fragrance filled all the room.  'What are you, musk or ambergris?' he questioned. 'I am neither,' it answered. 'I am just a bit of common clay.' 'From where then do you have this rare perfume?' the poet asked. 'I have companied all the summer with a rose,' it replied.  We are just bits of the common clay of humanity. But if we company with The One Who is the Rose of Sharon ... something of the Fragrance of His life will pass into ours. Then we will be a refreshing and a sweetening influence to the world around us."