Fragrance Under Heat

There is so much I want to write all at once. Kuya Adyng and I had discussed quite a few matters concerning the church and our own spiritual lives, that ideas are pretty much still jumbled in my head waiting to be written down.

No, I'm not writing the things we had talked about (yet). This post would be about the entirety of the rest of my night, being blessed despite circumstances that could've convinced me otherwise. I slightly surfed through Aimae's most viewed websites on her laptop earlier in the evening, and one link led me to a particular website which was unusually foreign yet familiar. SetApartGirl. It rang beautifully in my ears, identifying with my soul right away. So there I was, spending the rest of the night watching their ministries' videos, listening to Eric (Leslie's husband) Ludy's sermons, and reading their devotionals. The lamp had, once again, been refilled with sweet-smelling oil.


This one devotional especially shot through me like it was specially tailored for me. Thinking about it now, I know this one seems pretty much tailored for you, too. Read on, friends, and I pray the Holy Spirit would continue to lead you as you read this devotional from the site. Be blessed. (Click on the photo below to check out their beautiful page.)

WHEN TRIALS STEEP SWEETNESS

My Mom has always been the picture of feminine grace and elegance. I always thought she looked more like a heroine that stepped out of a Jane Austen novel than a 21st-century woman. She carries herself with the dignity of a proper English dame and has a deep fondness for tea, just as you’d imagine every stately lady should! 

I share many of dear Mom’s passions, but our feelings towards tea are not mutual; I simply do not like this hot beverage so many fawn over. Since I’ve been married, I have not kept tea in the house (except my Raspberry Leaf Pregnancy Tea; which was hard to stomach) so when my Mom came over for a visit recently, she brought some of her favorite tea in a little Ziploc baggie all the way from South Africa.

One of the things I don’t like about tea is the smell that immediately overpowers all others the moment you pour boiling water on it. A little teabag releases its contents and fragrance in the midst of intense heat. Constant whiffs of that signature tea smell at eleven, four, and right before bedtime (my Mom’s “tea times”) every day, have caused me to consider the precious principle hidden in those tea leaves. 

Just as you can immediately tell what the contents of the teabag are when the heat of the water touches it, you can immediately tell what is inside of a person when they are placed under the heat of difficult or trying situations. What comes out of us when the boiling water of life’s trials, difficulties, and challenges fall on our souls? It is easy to showcase peace and patience when things are going our way and we feel like we are walking on sunshine. But the call for us as Christians, is to emit and diffuse the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Christ, not only when it’s easy, but especially in the moments of pain and difficulty! We ought to be so filled with His Spirit inside, that He is the scent that spills out of us when the heat is turned up!

Spurgeon–not surprisingly–says it well: “Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.” What a mighty testimony Christianity is when it stands strong, remains calm, endures patiently, and radiates joy in the very flames of difficulty! Meditating on this made me rethink the way I respond to not only the bigger trials in my life, but also the every day challenges we all face. Am I spreading the sweet smell of Christ in and around my home, husband, and my little baby girl, even when I feel tired after a long day of tending to the domestic affairs of the family?

Let us remember the words of James (1:2) “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;” and may the Christ-life within us become all the more visible and fragrant in the midst of every trial. 

- Elsje Zornes