Sami pulled on me as we walked through the woodland by the stream.  Golli, unleashed, scampered ahead, burrowing through the fresh green weeds and newly leafed underbrush.  When the worn path turned to the right, Golli kept moving straight ahead into the woods.  Perhaps she thought she was a bunny rabbit. She looked like it, darting this way and that.  Sami was on a leash, but he yanked me forward with his fifty pounds strengthening the pull.  Suddenly, the dogs stood stock still.

My heart raced. I stopped. A skunk glared at us only five feet ahead.  The black and white critter didn’t move. She stared with her beady black eyes.I squealed. OMG.  Please don’t lift your tail at us, I thought!I grabbed Golli by her leash, pulled Sami closer to me, and turned quickly away, dragging both dogs out of skunk’s target range.  A previous dog and I had been sprayed by a skunk several years before. It was a stinking experience, in more ways than one.  The pungent odor of “skunk” lingered in my nose for weeks.  No matter how many times I washed my dog in tomato juice (that’s what I was told to do!), he too smelled of skunk.Today we three bolted away, safe and smelling of no more than our usual sweat and wet doggy scent.This experience got me thinking about odors, fragrances, perfumes, and just plain smells.  I recall that our worship of God is considered a sweet aroma to him. The phrase “an aroma pleasing to God” is used about forty times in Scripture.  It refers to the burning of animal fat as part of the sacrifice of the lamb needed for atonement.  I suspect that might have smelled like  the mouth-watering scents that come off your grill when you are barbecuing a juicy meat.  Do you find that pleasing?In the New Testament, Paul writes about aroma.  He says (II Cor. 2: 14-16): the knowledge we have of God is the actual fragrance we spread around us as we walk with Christ.  Does God use you to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere like a sweet perfume?  Are you a fresh, vital fragrance that alerts those around you about the goodness of the Lord?If the skunk had been frightened by the dogs and me, she would have gone on the defensive. She would have turned her tail towards us and sprayed her pungent skunk odor on us.  Do you act like that when you are on the defensive?  What is your behavior like when you are afraid of what you see, or what appears to be threatening you?  Do you turn against the “bad” thing, and spray out yucky fumes? This adventure today reminded me of my need to walk so closely with the Lord that his protection keeps me from spraying “skunk” on my fellowman.   Instead I hope my prayers would smell delicious to the Lord.  I pray my actions and my words will provide a fresh fragrance to all those in the world around me.

What fragrance are you giving off today?