The next day, you sprayed your favorite perfume as you were reminded of how that woman smelled. You want to give others the kind of relief that woman gave you..
True love works in the same principle as this.
It's like your expensive perfume that stays on your skin or clothes or even in others' noses.
When you wear perfume, everyone smells it. No exception! (well okay, those with colds could be an exception, haha) Everyone who sits beside you, who stands across you, who passes by you. Everyone should able to enjoy the refreshing love you wear and freely give out!
What kind of love is it that would be most fragrant for the people around us?
Of course, it is the love taught to us by Jesus's example.
Imagine how busy Jesus was when He was on Earth. He had many things to do in his waking hours! Even at the times when he wanted to be alone to pray, He sometimes got interrupted. One time, He got interrupted by the crowd who followed Him when He wanted to privately mourn for John the Baptist's death, (Matthew 14:13-14) another time was when Jesus got up early to pray and Peter found Him to tell Him that "Everyone is looking for you!" (Mark 1:35-37). These moments were so important! But Jesus did not get irritated at all when He was interrupted. Instead, all He exuded was love.
When the Pharisees threatened His life, many followed Him when He withdrew.. What He did with the crowd? He healed them all. (Matthew 12:14-15)
He was never too busy, never too occupied, to express His love to an individual.
Everything He did when He was here on Earth was very important. But when someone interrupts Him, no matter how incomparably little that guy's reason was compared to Jesus's task such as organizing the universe, saving the world from sin, and the like, He always took the time to listen and give that person His full attention.
That was how He looked at EVERY individual with soo much love.
No one was less important than the others.. He was very busy but was never too busy to neglect anyone at all.
From the morning 'til night, Jesus encountered all kinds of people. For the whole day, He got to talk to the people close to Him, His apostles, and to people whom He physically interacted for the first time.
But I cannot imagine Him waking up and greeting His disciples with a grunt.. "Don't talk to me unless you already have our breakfast ready!" From the morning 'til dawn, He would've greeted and connected with every person He meets with love and compassion.
Jesus always seemed to find time to connect with people in rich, strong, personal ways.
That's the fragrance of love that would make the world smell a lot better!
How many people do you encounter in one day? As soon as you wake up, you might have your family at the breakfast table, or maybe your dormmates. The moment you go outside of your house, you pass by strangers and mere acquaintances. You get to meet with your friends. Your boss or your teacher sees you. You have an encounter with a jeepney driver, even. In one whole day, what do all the people you bump into smell from you?
Do they smell love?
Do they smell indifference?
Do they smell disgust?
Every person we meet wants a breath of fresh air from the pollution of evil and wickedness in the world.
No exception.
He could be the blind man on the LRT Footbridge. She could be the old woman who has a hard time crossing the street. He could be the Recto kid thief who wants to change his ways and just wants someone who believes he could. She could be the Badjao who experiences all forms of discrimination and seeks to find real sisterly love in the streets. He could be the little kid who cannot find his mom in the mall. She could be your friend who just needs someone to listen to how hurt she was. He could be your dad who just wants to have a better relationship with his family.
Everyone needs to smell the fragrance of God's love.
My challenge to all of us is to live each day saturated with love.
Like how Pastor Rudy Rasmus puts it in His book Touch,
"Love before leaving someone's presence."
You'd never know. This could be the real love potion that creates in someone unconditional love towards all the people around him/her! A simple gesture of love can turn an angry person into the most loving one in the world! :)
When people walk out of your presence, do they feel blessed or hated?
What are you doing to let people know that real unconditional love still exists?
What "smell" do others remember from you?
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