Taking walks around our lake is a favorite pastime of mine. Often a woman or young girl will pass by and leave a lingering fragrance. A sweet aroma hanging in the air of citrus and florals. I often hope I will pass her again on the other side so I can ask her what perfume she is wearing. It started me thinking….what kind of fragrance am I leaving when people encounter me?

What is the aroma of Christ?

Scripture describes us as a fragrance of Christ. What a thought. When we walk by someone, do they say, Wow, she smells so sweet even when you are not wearing perfume? Does the aroma of Christ linger in a room when you exit? Does anyone ask where that delicious scent comes from? God wants a sweet fragrance to flow from us and permeate our space. It is not lost on me that our Heavenly Father often describes our relationship with Him in terms of our five senses. We are told to taste and see that the Lord is good. When we hear Him, we are to follow. He told Thomas to touch his hands and feet. The Lord asks us to use all of our senses to experience Him, know Him and spread His love.

Fruits of the Spirit

A distinguishing characteristic of fruit is that it has seeds for reproduction. The Spirit’s fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control has the same purpose, reproduction. It’s interesting God’s list of fruit does not start with self-control. It begins with love, with God, who is love. From love springs the remainder of the fruit culminating in self-control. When we cultivate and nurture the fruit of the spirit, we help reproduce these qualities in ourselves and others. We are Christ’s fragrance in a world filled with despair. Maybe today, we are like a crisp apple that refreshes the soul of someone or the soothing comfort of warm lemon tea as we listen to the heavy burden they are carrying.

Am I cultivating fruits of the soul?

It is the beginning of spring, and I ask myself what fruits I am cultivating? Are they sweet to the soul? Do they leave a fragrance of love, joy, and kindness? What am I filling my soul with to reproduce good, refreshing, delightful fruit in myself and others? What needs to be picked, pruned, and processed as compost? I have lots of questions for myself and pray that my ears will be open to hearing the answers from my Lord.

Blessings,

Personal Parables practices

Which fruit of the spirit do you need right now?
How will you experience the taste of this fruit?
How has the fragrance of Christ in others impacted your own life?
How can you cultivate the aroma of Christ in your life to share with others?

Personal Parables is the blog of Dyann Shepard. Get Dyann’s complementary study in Proverbs and prayer guide, What to Do When You Don’t Feel Good Enough. If you need encouragement to remember the truth about yourself in times of doubt and anxiety, this free 5-day study is for you. Follow Dyann and Personal Parables on Instagram and Facebook. Dyann is available for speaking, guest blogging, and article writing.

Scripture for Meditation

Galatians 5:22 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law.

Ephesians 5:1-2 – Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

Proverbs 27:9 – Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend.

Hosea 14:6 – His shoots will sprout, and his beauty will be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

John 16:33 – I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace

Psalm 34:8 – Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

II Corinthians 2:14-15 – But 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. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death and to the other the fragrance of life.