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A Pleasant Aroma - Let's Talk Fruit!

Posted on Monday, April 22, 2019

The last couple of days I have felt like I have been in an emotional rut. The enemy likes to toll with our emotions, our self esteem, and relationships to steal our joy and distract us from Father’s works. Today was a day of finding wonder in the details of Father’s kingdom and the culture I am living in. I was walking home and realized I don’t take the time to slow down and notice the tiny details of what is happening around me. My city is a sleepy one, a much different pace from other bustling and lively Asian cities I have been to. Men are often found playing Ma Jong on the sidewalk and outdoor benches for hours, elderly grandmas stroll their grandchildren in little shopping carts or wrap the little babies around their back, it is common to see many people sleeping on benches, in parks, in restaurants.  My favorite part about living cross-culturally is re-learning my entire world from a new perspective. The way parents talk to their children on the street here is the same way that locals talk to me! I am an infant in this culture and with that comes the many joys of exploring my new world. 

Most of my very first words here have been all about fruit. The fruit here are bursting with flavor I have not experienced before. When I walk through my sleepy neighborhood every few venders are fruit selling ones. These stalls are filled with very color of the rainbow: grapes about to burst with purple, round red apples, yellow oval shape mangoes, and bright pink watermelons to name a view. My favorite fruit here are the strawberries. These strawberries taste nothing like the American ones I am used to. 

First, the smell is so fragrant I know when someone is selling strawberries several meters away. It smells like fresh sweet rose buds bursting forth. The smell itself is enough to make my month water. The strawberries are much smaller here and beaming with a deep red. These delectable treats squish in my month and burst with a soft sweetness. 

For me, pleasant aromas bring about my strongest memories. When I smell coffee grounds I remember sitting endless hours with my mom on the couch. Incredibly, the rich and bitter smells of the coffee gives me deep feelings and memories of simplicity, contentment, and being known. I am not sure how smells are able to capture our memories in this way but smells do just that! This weekend we remembered and celebrated the triumph we have that Father’s son has risen from the grave. We are to the Father a pleasing aroma bringing about the knowledge of His son. Pleasing aromas fill an empty space and instantly bring our minds to long term memories. Now each day as I pass the flower fragrant strawberries filling the market I am reminded of the victory I have in the Son, the sweetness of knowing Him, delighting in the joy He brings. I would love to hear from you! What are some of your favorite pleasing aromas and fragrance? What memories did you associate with them? I know love to hear from you! 

 

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Like so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.” 

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