Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Nostalgia

I'm sure most of you typically have those moments when you visit back home and you get to hang out with old friends at old places and it brings back a ton of memories. I had such an experience over the past few days.

Though I wasn't necessarily hanging out with old friends, I encountered lots of old smells when I came back home and it reminded me of the days of old. For instance, the smell of spring was definitely in the air as I drove into town, and this reminded me of all the spring baseball I played for my school back in the day. Also, I went to the town bakery and the smell reminded me early-morning bakery runs before class when I was in high school. Furthermore, when I first walked into my house (the same house I lived in for the first 18 years of my life), there was a smell that reminded me of my grandma's house — she died about 12 years ago — which consisted of cigarette smoke, fried chicken and probably some ointment or powder of some sort that Mom is starting to use to ease her ailing joints; either that or she is using an old-person-scented candle called Geriatric Geranium or something of the sort.

What I'm getting at is that our noses are a key part of our ability to remember. If I smell freshly cut grass, I think of baseball. When I think of baseball, I think of St. Louis Cardinals games. When I think of Cardinals games, I think of family trips to St. Louis that included a trip to Six Flags with a lunch picnic outside of the park. All of these memories from my childhood can flood back to me through my olfactory memory; it's truly amazing.

Next time you're reading in II Corinthians 2, remember how strong one's olfactory memory can prove to be when you come across verses 14-16:

14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?

Are we attempting to spread the fragrance of God? Are we being the aroma of Christ, filling the nostrils of the lost with a scent of love so powerful that associating with us will bring their minds closer to God? This works for other Christians as well. If we are the aroma of Christ to Christians who have become apathetic then our actions, however simple, can remind them of our God and His great yearning to have us intimately know Him as Abba Father.