I have lived in three US States, Pennsylvania, California, and Idaho. I love Idaho best. I love where we live in Idaho, in the lower Treasure Valley. When we moved to our current residence, this was one of the first subdivisions and it was surrounded by farm fields. Now there are less fields and more subdivisions.

One thing I have always found interesting are the various fragrances that come through our windows – all depending on which way the wind blows. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the sugar beet factory or the feedlots. But other times we are blessed by the mint fields. Today it’s onions. The farmers must be stirring up the onion fields.

I went for a short walk outside today. This is the first time since before my surgery. As I walked (and breathed in the onion fragrance) I could not help but think about 2 Corinthians 2 and the section on “A Ministry of Life and Death.”

“But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life.” [vs 14-16 HCSB]

Christ in us produces an “aroma,” a fragrance. To God and to others who also have Christ in them, this aroma, this fragrance, is a sweet perfume. To those apart from Christ, this aroma, this fragrance is putrid – like the smell of death.

If you wonder why some people respond to us so negatively or accuse us of judging or condemning – even though we haven’t said a word – it is because Christ in us produces that spiritual aroma. That fragrance arouses a response – either affirming life in them or death.