A Sweet Savor

We sat, watching the sheets curl their corners at the will of a late summer breeze.  A day like this makes even "watching sheets dry" an exciting experience.  At times the wind seemed to threaten to tear at the sails, as in an attempt to move a boat from its moorings, but each subject was securely fastened with sturdy clips.   While we watched, I imagined the fresh scent that we would enjoy when climbing into our beds tonight, and the crispness of the folds.  Heated dryers, though convenient, seem to rob clothing of that outdoors-clean smell and feel; leaving things limp and lifeless and often with a man-made, "fresh air" scent that is unfamiliar to our natural senses.

Modern conveniences, in my opinion,  can truly add minutes to our day (and I partake in several of them myself), but as in the example above, some may take away more in our later enjoyment of the finished product.  Just as an example, I grew up with stiff towels.  Summer or Winter, our clothes were hung to dry on our side porch.  It seemed that our front door was there solely to serve in giving us access to the clothes line.  Here the clothes were put out wet and gathered in dry, or stiff as a board and almost dry, as in the case of zero degree days.  In today's world, I experience some towels that are so soft and limp that they do not absorb water and feel as if they might fall apart in my hand.  Good old stiff towels not only dry your back, but I've often thought, they give you a back scratch at the same time!

I read today from II Corinthians 2:14-17.  Verse 14 says, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place."  It is God who causes us to triumph in Christ!  No modern way has been invented to give us a shortcut to growth in the Lord Jesus.  We still come to God in "the old fashioned way" when we trust Jesus' shed blood upon the cross for our only way of salvation; then we grow in Christ by the way of prayer and Bible reading, depending upon the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the way we must walk.   Verse 15 then says, "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish."    No seminars or new methods will make this "savour of His knowledge"  manifest any faster than the way God has set forth in the Word.

Like the sheets on the line, sometimes the winds can "tear at our corners" while we are walking along in the way the Lord is leading us.  These winds come in so many different forms and would attempt to knock us completely off course.  I'm so thankful that my ship is anchored fast to the Rock.   Some of my favorite verses in the Psalms are from chapter 18. Verses 1-3 say, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.  I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from mine enemies."

Fresh and ready to be used.  We gather the sheets in now, while their clean scent rises as incense into the air.

I hope that, first of all, you are in this right relationship with the Rock or our salvation.  I pray that your way is clear today and, though you may experience stumbling blocks; whatever comes in the path of a child of God will lead them closer to the Lord as they walk along the road with Him.