A Peony for My Thoughts..................

(Thanks to my dear friend Claudia for use of her peony photo! )

Peony's .. they are my favorite flower. They have a similar scent to a rose only grander, and are more magnificent in size. I've made several bouquets this summer, collecting them in vases before they dropped their petals on my floor. I am sad to say that they are all drooped and spent on the bush now from the pelting of the last rain, but I made it a point to enjoy them while they were here. With a vase in each room their scent was the first thing I noticed when I would walk in the door, and their fragrance was the last thing I remember before drifting off to sleep. I can in my minds "nose" smell them right now though they are gone.

How good of God to give us the olfactory sense! Can you imagine how much less we would enjoy life without it? Much of what we are nostalgic about is due to the memory of pleasant smells and aromas we have experienced. They remind us of people, places, and events that have powerfully impacted us during our lifetime. Unfortunately the olfactory sense has a down side as well. For every fragrance it seems there is an odor! There are skunks, garbage, stagnant vase water, and dead animals. God's Word tells us that our lives lived out are like a fragrance (or an odor) to those we come into contact with. The New Living Translation from 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 reads:

Now He (God), uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume.

Amazing isn't it? Our spiritual lives are as a fragrance that impacts every person we meet. For those who are enjoying life in Christ, that heavenly scent in our lives is as a sweet perfume." Christ's fragrance in us draws seeking or like minded Christians to connect and enjoy fellowship. But this spiritual scent is also perceived as offensive by those who do not yet know our Lord, to those who are perishing."To them it is "the dreadful smell of death." because they are dead in their sins, and this aroma makes them more aware of their spiritual deadness, and more aware of their need for Christ.

The fragrance of Christ is one of the characteristics that God wants to build into our lives by His grace. It is my prayer for myself and for all of us "Grovers," that just as the sweet scent of a vase of peony's can fill a room, that God would cause His compelling sweetness to pour forth from our lives, and that His fragrance lingers long enough so that others know without a doubt that Jesus has visited them.

Till Next Time,
Peggy



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