Freshly-baked bread may remind you of simple days at grandma’s farm. Aromas of vanilla and cinnamon bring memories of baking snickerdoodles with your kids. A musty-pine scent provides sweet recollections of your late dad. Blooming roses, and their various fragrances, treat you to thoughts of first dates with your husband (No, I won’t ask if he still brings you flowers). Lavender-laced lotion transports you back to baby bedtime baths. Specific laundry detergent perfumes elicit reminders of now college-bound children.
Favorite fragrances have the power to remind you of treasured times and places with the ones you love.
Morning walks are scented, too. Sometimes walks are peppered with the smell of freshly mown grass. Other times, the smell instantly triggers a mouth-watering moment…steak being grilled in someone’s backyard. And at least twice a week the beaten-path is overwhelmed by an odiferous and off-putting smell from overflowing trash cans lining the road.
But one whiff that I always love my nose to catch is that of jasmine. The aroma is unmistakable and is sometimes detected before it’s seen. In some ways, it’s almost heavenly…at least as a thought-provoking reminder.
“Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures
and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb,
each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense,
which are the prayers of the saints” (Rev. 5:8).
Praying is more than talking to God. Prayer is more than praising God. Prayer is more than thanking God. Prayer is more than petitioning God. Our prayers are heavenly-scented offerings to our Lord. God’s favorite fragrance perhaps. What I wonder is if I have more than one bowl and if they are full?
“Let my prayer be set before You as incense,
The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (Ps. 141:2).
Memory Verse:
“Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.”
– Psalm 66:20 (KJV)
Prayer Prompt:
“Lord, no matter how busy the days are, remind me that prayer is so much more than a ritual or routine, but rather a rich perfume worth saving. You are never too busy to hear my prayers. May my prayers be offered up as a sacrifice to You….”
Contributing Writer:
Erica Skattebo
Aiming to do All
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