{"id":20660,"date":"2017-10-10T00:10:24","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T07:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=11761"},"modified":"2017-10-10T00:10:24","modified_gmt":"2017-10-10T07:10:24","slug":"october-10-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/10\/10\/october-10-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"October 10, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cEverywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation\u2014an aroma redolent with life.\u201d<\/em>
\n2 Corinthians 2:15-16a (The Message)<\/span><\/p>\n

What Is Your Fragrance?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

We had just been asked to stand for worship. I stood, and then it happened\u2026 someone slipped into the seat behind me, and I was assaulted by the fragrance they were wearing. Right away I started feeling very sorry for myself. \u201cWhy do the wearers of strong perfume always end up next to ME?\u201d \u201cCan\u2019t I even enjoy church?\u201d Granted, I am pretty scent-sensitive. Strong perfume immediately gives me a headache, and it seems like the stronger it is, the more lavishly it\u2019s applied. I\u2019m sure this person, as part of their morning routine, put on the scent that they love, and headed out the door with nary a thought about it. I stood there huffing (no pun intended!) about it, which of course is ridiculous. I\u2019m sure that person wasn\u2019t intending to ruin my day!<\/span><\/p>\n

But this got me thinking about the different kinds of \u201cfragrance\u201d that I put out. How do I smell to those around me? I have the choice to put out a lovely fragrance. I can be polite to that poor, harried checker at the store after having stood in a long line. I can joyfully assist someone in need. I can be a good listener and be one that people turn to when they need prayer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSmelling\u201d bad is poisonous. One day I was flying home, and there was a long delay at the airport. Everyone was waiting patiently in line, when one person loudly complained about the wait. Suddenly, everyone was aware of the fact that we were late, and the murmuring and toe-tapping began. And guess what? That didn\u2019t lessen the delay one little bit! That \u201cstinker\u201d made the situation worse!<\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously, we have our days, and I have too many of them where I look back and I am not happy with the way I have responded to certain situations. But we can purpose to be a lovely fragrance. I want to be aware of my actions, and know that I can be a pleasing aroma to the Lord, and those around me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFather, thank You that because of You, I have a lovely aroma. Please help me to always be mindful of Who I represent. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEverywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5ne","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20660\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}