Smells like....

Shepherds smell like their sheep. They must hold them tight when anointing their heads with oil. If their sheep wanders off and breaks a leg, they must quiet that sheep and splint that leg and carry that sheep in their arms. Shepherds do not stand aloof and far off surrounded by their sheep dogs to keep the sheep away. They train their dogs to watch over the sheep. They mingle with the sheep and get sheep dirt on them. They smell like their sheep. I know some shepherds like this.

Mothers smell like their babies. Babies get sick or spit up and mother's can get a bit sour smelling by the end of the day. They change poopy diapers and play on the floor. They get dirty from following their baby around inside and out. They forget what it means to finish a sentence. They die to themselves. In the evening, they might take a sweet smelling bath with their baby in tow and come out feeling clean and new and the next day or even sometimes the next minute, it starts all over again. Mother's smell like their babies. I know some mothers like this. And father's too.

Teachers smell like their students.
Farmers smell like their cows, and tractor oil, and the earth.
Doctors smell like their patients and like Lysol.
And so on.

Who are you and what do you do?
Who and what do you smell like?

My son, Michael, works for Cutco. This is a company that's been in business for a very long time. They sell quality life-time guaranteed knives, kitchen gadgets, and cookware. Michael just met the CEO of the company. He said that he is just an ordinary down to earth guy. He goes to the factory every day and knows the workers by name. He gets dirty with them. He smells like them. No wonder this company is successful.

I think we should "smell" like the people we are around. We should know what makes them tick. We should know their happiness and pain.

Mary anointed Jesus with oil just a few days before His death. "In preparation for my burial," Jesus said. Jesus smelled like her. She smelled like Him. They carried the fragrance of each other through His death and burial. When the whip cracked and tore open His dear broken body, the wind of the whip carried a whiff of her love past His bleeding nostrils and it helped Him. Sustained Him.

I want to smell like God. I want people to sniff and say, "Oh, you've been with Jesus.

And I want God to smell like me. I want the angels to say, "Oh, you've been with HER again. The fragrance of her love is all around you!"

We should be close to each other like this too. The oil of comfort we anoint others with should get on us also. We as human beings should smell like each other.

Frightening, isn't it?

But if we really want to live with abandonment, we'll have to push through the fear. Why smell only like yourself your whole life long? Give your fragrance to others and let others give their fragrance to you.

Lindsay tells me that she likes when her kids sit with us in church because they come back smelling like Hertzlers.

And that, my friends, is what it's all about.