May 02, 2007
Phew in the Pew
The last few years I’ve stopped going to church on holidays like Mother’s Day, Christmas and Easter. Not that I’m avoiding the crowd caused by once-a-year folks, but I’m keeping my distance from ladies bathed in perfume. We’re not talking about the scent of just a couple roses here, but rather being surrounded by a combination of honeysuckle, herbs, lavender, spices, strawberries, lemons, sea breezes, tropical sun, musk and lilacs. I can’t be sure, but I think I’ve even detected Evening in Paris in the mix. Many habitual perfume wearers are desensitized, but for those of us suffering from chemical allergies, the saturation of fragrance makes us sick and in my case, it also distorts a Christian attitude. Rather than being in a worship service, I feel like I’m sitting in the middle by a blooming garden with a headache, itchy eyes and congestion. Quite honestly, it’s not worth attending church if I’m going to be sick the rest of the day. It’s one thing to be a pleasing aroma to the God, it’s quite another to be a phew in the pew.
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Gail;
-----You’re excused. Well…actually…uhh, I don’t have the position to be saying that. I do not have chemical allergies, and I kind of like some of the scents around. But occasionally I find myself planted behind one of those mega-flowers, and it does nearly make me cough. Light or strong, I can not abide potpourri (from the French - pot pourri, literally meaning “rotten pot”).
-----Paul told the Romans a sermon in one short sentence, “Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Rom 12:10). Your willingness to deprive yourself of fellowship you would like (but obviously have physically and spiritually survived without) so that mega-flowers can blissfully enjoy certainly has outdone them in showing honor.
-----Good girl, Gail. That’ll do. That will do. Now for someone to lovingly encourage them to step up to the same challenge you have met so well, and try to outdo the honor you have shown.
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