December 9, 2002
DOWN HOME:
The nose knows to make scents
___"Mmmmm, you smell good," Joanna said, giving me a tight hug as she buried her face in my shoulder.
___Perplexed, I retraced my Saturday steps.
___That morning, I pulled on jeans and a T-shirt as soon as I go out of bed. Too many sweaty chores to do on my day off. No need to take a shower just to go out and work in flower beds, wash the car, bathe the dog and go for a run. Shooo-weeee, I'm glad Jo didn't try to hug and sniff me before I took a shower.
___I did take a shower and put on clean jeans and this sweatshirt before I ran a few late-afternoon errands. No need to go stinky to the cleaners, hardware store and grocery.
___So, maybe I still smelled like soap from my shower. But I couldn't smell like cologne. No need to waste the good stuff on a blue-jeans-and-sweatshirt day.
___My wife can read my mind. She looked up and saw the confusion in my eyes and set me straight.
___"You smell like grilled hamburgers," she told me. Well, yeah, I did, since I'd just spent the past little while flipping burgers and hovering in charcoal smoke out on the patio. As a reward for my culinary endeavors, she gave me a big, fat kiss to say smelling like hamburgers is just great with her.
___"This is how we can make a million dollars," Jo declared, her sense of smell setting off a series of suggestions. "We can figure out how to make a cologne called 'Grilled Hamburgers' and sell it to husbands all over America. Wives will love it."
___She also assured me "New Car Smell" would sell well, describing a recent commercial in which a guy rubs his face and neck on the seats, steering wheel and dashboard of a new car before picking up his date.
___My pick would be called "Whatever You Want" and would smell exactly like the smeller's favorite scent, whatever it is. Like in the movie "Michael," where John Travolta plays an angel who smells like people's favorite aromas. I remember one woman thought he smelled like fresh-baked cookies.
___During Christmas season, sentimental favorites would do well. Who could resist "Fir Christmas Tree in Living Room"? Or how about "Apple Cider" or "Pumpkin Pie"? "Fresh Tamales" would appeal to many folks who grew up in the Southwest and Mexico. I'd go for "New Leather Cowboy Boots" and "Chocolate Fudge with Pecans."
___All these olfactory observations remind me the Apostle Paul says our lives have smells. We can be "a sweet savor of Christ," "the savor of death" or "the savor of life." That all depends upon if we place our lives and our faith in Christ, whose birth we are about to celebrate with our eyes and ears and tongues and nostrils.
___So, how about you? What do you smell like?
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