What Does God Smell Like?

How I love the spring!  I can walk outside onto our country front porch and be surrounded by the most sensual experience.  The breeze tickling my skin, the warmth of the sun on my bare shoulders, the beautiful sounds of birds singing to their Maker, the feel of soft earth between my fingers as I plant my garden, the exciting sights of nature waking up, from leaves on the trees to the snakes slithering out to bathe in the sun.  But by far, my most favorite thing about spring is THE SMELLS.  My husband has always teased me at how much I LOVE aromatherapy.  I'm not talking about Scentsy.  I'm talking about NATURE'S aromatherapy.  Rain, pine, grass, honeysuckle, lavender, horses, bonfire's, and just about anything else that is outside. 

Today the kids and I were on a walk and all of our wild honeysuckle is in full bloom.  Honeysuckle, in particular, revitalizes me.  I was pondering on how God is the ultimate in aromatherapy.  No incense or candles can truly replicate the smells that God Himself created for His glory.  Which got me wondering...I wonder what HE smells like?  What does Jesus and the Holy Spirit smell like?  I imagine God smelling masculine like pine and sandalwood, earthy like leaves burning, strong like a distant thunderstorm yet makes me hungry for more like right-out-of-my-herb-garden basil.  Jesus...calming like lavender, sweet like a rose, powerful like an Easter lily, down to earth like my tomato plants.  And the Holy Spirit...airy like honeysuckle, thick like honey, ever-present like freshly mowed grass.  All 3 of them together...can you imagine?  I'd have to say that I smelt a GLIMPSE of what it might be when Jim and I visited New Zealand where the native flower LUPINE was in full bloom. (see picture)  I described it as pine, honey, lavender and fresh rain all mixed up into 1.  I would ask Jim to pull over the car so I could just sit on the hood and breathe!  In my journal I stated, "People often say they FEEL the presence of God.  In New Zealand, I SMELL Him." The smell was all-encompassing but not stifling; Overwhelming but not over-bearing.  If the hood of a car and my own front porch can bring so much joy to my senses, what in the world will heaven be like?  

Do you know that God loves smells, too?  After all, why would He go to the trouble of creating so many different aroma's if it wasn't something He, too, enjoyed?  

Did you know He tells us that our prayers, when offered up in a spirit of humility and praise, are gathered together in a golden bowl as a sweet incense to His nostrils?  The thought is very beautiful.  As our petitions rise in holy breathings or in earnest cries, he receives them—every sigh, every yearning, every pleading, every intercession of love, every heart-hunger—and puts them all into golden bowls, that none of them may be lost!  I once read that often our prayers may seem to remain long unanswered, for some blessings are so rich that they cannot be prepared for us in a day—but we may be sure that they are not lost nor forgotten. They are sacredly treasured and are always before God, and in due time they will receive gracious and wise answer.  A Godly man, J.R. Miller in 1888 wrote, "..the fragrance which rises from garden, field and forest—is earth's prayer to God. But still more beautiful is the thought that true prayer is itself fragrance to God, that he delights in it—as we delight in the perfume of sweet flowers."  Happy Spring...and may you delight in the Smell of God today!