Fragrance

I’ve just been thinking about - - - -

In the busyness of life, one of the things we have failed to notice is the diminishing scent and fragrance of Flowers. From the studies that are being done so far, the research indicates the following:

Pollution is dulling the scent of flowers and impeding some of the most basic processes of nature, disrupting insect life and imperiling food supplies…

The potentially hugely significant research – funded by US National Science Foundation – has found that gases mainly formed from the emissions of car exhausts prevent flowers from attracting bees and other insects in order to pollinate them. And the scientists who have conducted the study fear that insects' ability to repel enemies and attract mates may also be impeded.

The researchers – at the University of Virginia – say that pollution is dramatically cutting the distance traveled by the scent of flowers. Professor Jose Fuentes, who led the study, said: "Scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment could travel for roughly 1,000 to 1,200 meters. But today they may travel only 200 to 300 meters. This makes it increasingly difficult for bees and other insects to locate the flowers."

It is not strange that we still admire the beauty of Flowers and will touch them (to see if they are real), and then sniff them. While there is very little to actually “sniff”, we sometimes act as though there is because we remember that Flowers are supposed to have a Fragrance and bring a degree of pleasure to ones sense of smell.

As I thought about the Flowers losing their scent and fragrance, I also thought about people and the missing Fragrance of a human life. The idea of one’s potential as a human being is that we can and do have an appeal and/or impact on another’s life. Part of the appeal of the Gospel is that new creatures in Christ have new opportunity and new responsibility. They are the expression of the aroma and fragrance of the Gospel. The Apostle Paul made this point when he wrote about ministry in II Corinthians 2:14-17. We read:

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

And why is this so important? In a parallel passage, Ephesians 5:2, we read: “and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to become the Fragrance of Him in this world so that all will take notice of that Fragrance and be attracted to Jesus Christ.

We need to ask ourselves whether or not the pollutants of our society have negated the Fragrance and Aroma that should be obvious and noticeable. We go on as though the Fragrance is still there – but – is it?

You think about that with me - - -