Many years ago I worked in a department store and one of my favourite sections was the perfumes section. I made friends there and was rewarded handsomely for friendship. One thing I noted was that that section of the building had a residue of the wonderful smells of perfumery. If you just walked through that area you left with a tinge of the atmosphere you walked through that gave you a feel good factor. As I meditated about life I remembered that life has a way of leaving a tinge that can affect us. A good fragrance will attract with the same force that a foul odour repels.
Ever been in the place where you are to choose between a the right or left your choice is beclouded by the scars of life? We all carry an atmosphere of life every where we go. Everyone has an atmosphere that has been filled by the different smells that we have walked though in life. Recently a friend when cooking rice burnt the rice and my oh my I didn't forget the residue that the house was left with. You may be asking burnt rice...how? Simple, we forgot about it as we discussed far weightier matters of life. As I thought about the whole process of getting rid of the smell I realised that in life we carry a residue from each experience of life. We have a fragrance in life we carry that was created by words spoken, past relationships, past business deals, etc
Talking with a friend during the weekend I realised that the atmosphere you carry will affect your decisions. You ask how? How many times do we make decisions based on the fact that we got burnt once when faced with a similar decision. Every day we see decisions made because we carry a burnt smell that has coloured our lives and left a distinct residue that affects our going forward in life. Listen to children today and you can tell what the atmosphere is like at home. Relationships leave a smell over our lives that affects our going forward. Is it any wonder that you find people who don't start businesses because of a burnt deal that devastated their dreams? Whether you realise it or not your past dealings in life have left a smell over you that affects your today. What do we do to change the atmosphere around us?
- Understand that God is interested in your new beginning. Ever smelt a new dress or shirt. It doesn't smell of sweat yet many of us are walking in life dressed in the clothes of our old lives that are filled with the sweat of past hurts and failures. God is a God of New Beginnings and though Christ has set an open door that sets us on the path of a new fragrance in our lives. Too many of us are just at the door but unwilling to walk further that He may change us. Connect with Him and ask Him to change your life and break free of the residue of your past. Isaiah 43:18-19.
- Change. Many know they are sweating but they are unwilling to change sweaty clothes. Don't think that because the clothes will dry up the odour will go. It will only settle over you and become a part of you. Paul said renew your mind Romans 12:2. Remember the burnt rice story, we made a choice to open the door and allow fresh air to flow into the house. This would soon drive the burnt odour out and leave a fresh smell over the house.
- Desire to carry a new smell in life. Let the new wine of God flow into your life and see His goodness bring a fragrance over your life Matthew 9:15-17.You cannot place new wine into the old lifestyle and expect a new fragrance in life. You will soon realise that cooking raw food in a burnt pot will surely affect the end of your story in life. What you desire will determine your expectations in life.
- Learn to worship God. Stop worshipping the past and start worshipping the God of a new beginning. God is interested in you and when we praise and worship Him we are made beautiful Psalm 33:1. Praise has a way of bringing a new fragrance into our lives. Thanksgiving introduces a new sound into our lives. What you worship most will soon settle over your life as your fragrance!! What you focus on will soon either make you or break your heart when you realise what the effects of the fragrance are on our lives. Worship your spouse and soon all we smell is that person in your life as they have become an idol taking the place of God.
God desires that we carry His fragrance. Too many times we are stressed because we chose to remain in the old sweaty clothes of familiarity and comfort. The children of Israel smelt the grapes of Canaan, beheld the beauty of the new land but because of doubt they didn't experience the new fragrance of fulfillment because of doubt. I want to challenge you to choose to carry about the residue of God in all that you do.
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