fresh flowers for June 10

Smoke
copyright 2005, Lani Wiens
a fresh flowers original

Smoke. The smell of it permeates and infiltrates like nothing else I know. Last fall my mom and dad had the task of helping my dad’s sister move into a nursing home. They also had to clean out her house, disburse her goods and sell the place. It was a lot of work. My aunt has never been married, has no children and has been a heavy smoker for all of her adult life. She has also lived in that house for as long as I can remember.

The cigarette smoke was so heavy in her house that it absolutely affected every single article in her home. It crept into closed containers, linens, wood, packages wrapped in plastic even the food that was in the freezer. It coated walls and windows and everything else that was in her home. We were the recipients of some of these articles. Being non-smokers we were very sensitive to the odour that adorned these goods. Unfortunately there was very little that we could selvage and find usable because of the smoke infiltration. I was shocked that the pre-packaged freezer food was affected, but it was. I tried bleaching things and cleaning with powerful cleaners, nothing worked to remove the smell. I was disappointed because there were some articles that we were given that would have been very useful to us.

This persistent invasion of the smoke got me to thinking about my relationship with Jesus. My desire is to make a difference while I’m here. I also desire that my life would OBVIOUSLY reflect the life of the Spirit in me. I want the scent of Jesus to permeate my life and my family like that smoke did.

So maybe I should follow my aunt’s example:

1. Stay in one place for a long time – sit at Jesus’ feet, let His presence coat the ceilings and walls of my spiritual house.
2. Take in Jesus every day, breathe out His thoughts so that they get into every aspect of my being, even the hidden things, the closed things, the things that are packed away that I never use, all of it saturated with Him..
3. Be persistent – so that no matter how hard anyone tries to remove the scent of Jesus from me, they won’t be able, too.

Maybe if I do these things people will know that when I walk by, or stop to talk to them that they will smell the scent of Jesus on me, hear Him speaking through my voice. Maybe they’ll see the evidence of years of being near Him on my fingers and on my face. I think that is how I’d like to be.