The Smell Remembers When

Years ago Trisha Yearwood came out with a song titled "The Song Remembers When" and she sang about when a certain song came on the radio how it took her memory back in time to a young love that she once had.

Today I walked to Tim Horton's from my house and had a coffee and a breakfast sandwich and as I walked back to my house I could smell a familiar scent that took me back in time to my childhood. I could smell the water from the river and the wildflowers mixed with the native grass and the sweet scent of clean prairie air. The aroma took me back to when I was young and life was simple during my summers at Pasqua Lake near Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan.

My grandparents owned a lake lot cottage half way down Pasqua Lake that they called Num - Ti- Jah, and every summer we would drive from Edmonton and spend a few weeks of the summer time frolicking in the lake, fishing, water skiing and making forts down in the coulée areas where the deer would nest for the night. The smell took me back to a time that I longed for all year long as a young boy, and eventually a teenager, and then a young adult. It is amazing how powerful aroma really is. It can make you happy, sad, or even angry. It can make your mind wander and think of good times past, or sad times that you never want to endure again. It is surprising how the smell remembers when.

The Apostle Paul talks about the power of aroma in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16. He says, "For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life."

When it comes to Jesus, the smell will always remember when. We will remember how bad life was before we met Jesus and how much better it is now, but for others, the smell of Jesus is not so great. The smell is the stench of death, and they are reminded of how badly they hate the one who paid their penalty to turn the wrath of God away from them. For one the smell is sweet, for the other, the smell is bitter, but the smell will always remember when.