by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea

“Smell this.”

Honestly, the number of times I’ve been given that command and it’s turned out to be a pleasant experience? So very few. The times that immediately pop to mind are the ones when someone has held out a container of chunky milk. Or when somebody came across questionable socks that fell somewhere between the clean pile of laundry and the dirty one. Having raised five kids, I can tell you there were way too many times people in my household were unwilling to sniff something themselves—after all, it might be gross. So they asked me to do it.

Shouldn’t there be some sort of life rule about this? An olfactory golden rule? Like “smell unto others what you would have them smell unto you”? Okay, not a golden rule. Probably not even nickel. But a lesser-valued metal rule. Or some other great mantra. “Ask not what others can smell for you….” You get it. What about, “Foolishness is having someone smell something over and over again and expecting a different stink.” Maybe “Keep calm and sniff on.”

I admit, I don’t like sniffing the gaggy stuff. I find myself longing for a space in life consisting of only the sweetest aromas. Spiritually even more than physically—and olfactorily.

The space of sweetness? It’s only in Jesus. And anytime I’m not following hard after Him, it’s easy to focus on everything stinky. It’s true that while existing on a planet groaning under the curse of sin, we’re going to encounter that sin-stench regularly. But focusing on it? That’s sniffing up the wrong tree if we want to experience the sweet life.

Sweetness shows up in knowing Him and His goodness. We’re told to “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8 CSB). Tasting goes beyond a mere sniff. We’re to experience Him. Seek Him. See Him become everything our life is about. Find our safe, happy place in Him. Psalm 34:8 ends with the exclamation “How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!”

Even when we’re stuck in a life situation that truly stinks, there is great triumph in remembering who we are in Christ, and what we’re called to. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us spreads and makes evident everywhere the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which ascends] to God, [discernible both] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the latter one an aroma from death to death [a fatal, offensive odor], but to the other an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16 AMP).

Letting Jesus lead us takes us to sweet triumph. Victory. “Always.” It’s a sweetness that grows and spills over onto those around us. Oh, the “sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Him.” Father, make us more and more the fragrance of Christ—vital, living, fresh, sweet, beautiful.

Yes, it’s true, sweetness found in Christ is always fresh. Hallelujah, it never spoils.

Unlike that milk. So, here’s a good lesser kind of life rule: If somebody asks you to sniff the milk, don’t bother. Drink the coffee. Black.

Rhonda Rhea is an award-winning humor columnist for great magazines such as HomeLife, Leading Hearts, The Pathway, and many more. She is the author of 19 books, including the popular romantic comedies co-authored with her daughter Kaley Rhea, Off-Script & Over-Caffeinated and Turtles in the Road. Rhonda and Kaley have also teamed up with Bridges TV host Monica Schmelter for the Messy to Meaningful books and TV projects. Along with Beth Duewel, Rhonda writes the Fix Her Upper series, and she also co-authored Unruffled: Thriving in Chaos with Edie Melson. She speaks at conferences and events from coast to coast, serves on many boards and committees, and stays busy as a publishing consultant. Rhonda says you can find her living near St. Louis drinking too much coffee and snort-laughing with her pastor/husband, five grown children, and a growing collection of the most exceptional grandbabies.