It’s about time to hang the buckets on the sugar maples. When the temperature during the day goes above freezing and at night drops below freezing, the trees become gigantic pumps pushing gallons of leaf-making sap upward into the branches. Soon I will see my wife drilling holes in our trees. (I don’t do it. She’s the Little Red Hen and I’m the one who eats from all her labor.) She will boil down the sap on our woodstove. The house smells so wonderful when this is happening. The essence of maple permeates everything. I have had my students tell me they can smell it on my clothes.
In 2 Corinthians 2 Paul wrote, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” I love the imagery of Christians being a sweet aroma in our homes, our workplaces and our communities. When I was a boy I lived close to Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was always such a treat to drive through town and smell chocolate in the air. We also had a large bread factory near our home. I loved it when we would drive past it with the windows down. If you did not salivate something was wrong with you.
Someone ran over a skunk last night close to our neighborhood. From a distance (a long distance) the smell is almost sweet. It is only when you get too much that it becomes offensive. This is just like a Christian who gently and meekly radiates a Christ-filled life. It’s great. But, when you get too much, when the person becomes pushy, trying to force ideas, then they become pretty offensive.
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 17, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org