I’ll never forget the December day in the 1980’s when my friend Linda Dillow met my incoming flight from communist Poland and drove me to an urgent appointment she arranged with her dentist for me in downtown Vienna. After the painful repair, she and I treated ourselves to a sensational experience. With dusk descending and a gentle snow falling, we strolled up and down the aisles of the Austrian Christkindlmarkt where festive aromas exploded. Smells of nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and anise hung in the air. In this fairytale setting, mulling spices brewed and warm chestnuts roasted. Beneath the lights of the centuries old Rathaus, a one-of-a-kind feast for the senses emerged that still comes alive within me more than forty Christmases later.
What about you? Does the smell of cinnamon take you back to baking cookies in your grandmother’s kitchen? Who stood beside you when you built your first-ever gingerbread house? When did it dawn on you that the scent of fir meant Christmas tree? Indeed, yuletide spices and memories have a way of coalescing to create a holiday wonder all their own.
Yet, in this season of sensory delight God quickens our spirit to ponder another fragrance: The Fragrance of Christ. Perhaps more than ever, our current spheres of influence desperately need this Aroma.
Sad faces Slumped shoulders Painful conversations Need the Fragrance of Christ
A short paycheck A long illness Need the Fragrance of Christ
A craving to feel understood A quest to be included A yearning to be heard Need the Fragrance of Christ
A broken heart A shattered dream Need the Fragrance of Christ
A desire to be seen A longing to be encouraged A cry to be affirmed Need the Fragrance of Christ
A fear of the future A disappointment with the past An emptiness in the present Need the Fragrance of Christ
Real people, real budens, very real realities. So, as we walk the aisles of life this Christmas season — as our taste buds savor peppermint and spice, as we sing about frankincense and myrrh — may we diffuse The Aroma that meets every need, heals every hurt, answers every question, calms every fear, soothes every anxiety, satisfies every longing, and even offers the oil of gladness, The Fragrance of Christ.
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.” (2 Corinthians 2:14)
Living With Eternal Intentionality®
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
What scents remind you of the Christmas season?
How would you articulate the Fragrance of Christ?
When do you feel the Fragrance of Christ might be most needed in your holiday schedule?
