SWEET PERFUME

As I was driving to work yesterday, the radio DJ asked this question:

“If happiness was a scent, what scent would it be for you?”

This was a great question! It is amazing to me how the power of a certain scent can invoke a memory, taking you back to a specific time or place. For me, there are a lot of scents which happiness could be: black coffee, incense, the smell of old books.

My answer to this question though would be the smell of a rose.

When we were younger, my little sister discovered a rose perfume she could dab on herself . . . or more accurately, douse herself with. The aroma of roses would fill our home and to this very day, more than 30 years later, the smell of roses reminds me of her at that age. It always makes me smile. (although, I didn’t smile back then when I smelled it)

In the Book of John,  Mary takes a pint of very expensive, rare perfume and pours it out on Jesus’ feet. The fragrance of this perfume filled the house.

This is such a beautiful moment. I can only imagine how much this pleased Jesus and how the sweet aroma filled up his nose as He breathed it in. 

I believe our prayers are like that too. Our prayers are the pleasing aroma which God breathes in. How sweet, how pleasant this fragrance must be to the God who loves us. 

As a child, I loved the smell of incense in church. I loved to watch, and still love to watch when I can,  the smoke work its way out of the Thurible. It rises, carrying the prayers of the Saints in its aroma.

Like the blossoming vines of the fig trees spreading their fragrance, our prayers, rising in  rich aroma, must be the scent of happiness for God.

“And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,  and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.” Rev 8:3-4