What Do You Smell Like?

As seen in the HEARTbeat and Village Voice

What Do You Smell Like?

            This sounds like a strange question.  But if you think about it, it’s really not.  As we travel throughout the day, we get a lot of smells on our clothes.  Some of the smells remain undetectable to our noses, while others are easy to ascertain.

            Every day when I get home, I’m greeted at the door by my dog, Gretchen.  Gretchen is a dachshund, so she has a very acute nose.  She gives me the once over, as if I’m standing inspection.  If I’ve been around another dog, she spends an extra measure of time giving me the once over!

            Recently I tried to find pipe cleaners.  After a semi-exhaustive search, I decided to go to a place where I knew they would be – a pipe and tobacco store.  If you’ve ever set foot in one of these types of stores, you know they have a very distinctive smell, unlike any other store.  Even though I was only in the store the few minutes it took me to locate and pay for the cleaners, I walked out with that distinctive smell on all my clothes.  Anyone who came in contact with me for a few hours could probably have picked up on the pipe shop smell.

            Can people smell when we’ve been around God?  This too may sound like a strange question, but it too is not.  In many churches, and even in the tabernacle of old incense is burned.  I’m sure the priest smelled like the incense, and people knew they had been in the most holy place spending time with God.  But can we smell differently just by spending time with God?

            Scientists and physicians will tell you our hormone system can cause certain odors or smells to be expelled from our body.  Now, I’m not a doctor but I can tell you there is a physical reaction our bodies illicit when we are angry, happy, sad, or otherwise.  If it stands to reason that our physical bodies show our emotions, a physiological change should also go with it.

            I enjoy watching people and try to read them by their body language.  Sitting in a restaurant around noon on a Sunday is a fun time for me.  I look at people and ask myself the question, “Have they been in the presence of God this morning?”  Some people are hard to read while the question is easily answered with others.  Smiles verses scowls, grins verses grimaces are the telling factors.  People can’t be in the presence of God and not get “happy” all over themselves!

            What does God smell like?  I don’t know, but I would like to think I smell like Him daily, and strong enough where people know who I’ve been around.  Smells tell people where we’ve been.  Ask God to make you smell like Him, so just by the look on your face, people will “smell” the sweet aroma of our Heavenly Father!