What’s your Fragrance?

Hey ladies, good to be back again. Let me say a big thank you to all the ladies and guys (surprise, surprise) who have sent me an encouraging word. Some have even come all the way to church just to look out for me to say they were blessed. I am the one who’s blessed by all of you. Thank you.

Now, what are we talking about this month? As always I wasn’t quite sure what to talk about but after an incident that happened this week it got me thinking. During the public holidays recently, a friend of ours took us out but on the way he had to drop by to pick a lady he had just met. When we got there, we were not quite sure of her house address so we had to park somewhere close by after he had called her. While we were sitting in the parked car waiting, I saw someone standing a short distance away and I guessed it was her while secretly hoping it wasn’t and I’ll tell you why in a minute.

When we drove over to where she was standing, I could smell the fragrance she was wearing and believe me I’m not talking about the kind you buy in a bottle with some designer label on the shelf of a perfumery. I’m talking about the kind you carry around with you called CHARACTER. Sometimes, it exhibits itself when you speak or you can smell it a mile away even before a person opens their mouth (unfortunately). So back to my story, our friend was driving, my husband was in the front seat and I was sitting at the back. Now, we drive up to where she is standing which happens to be on the side where my husband and I are sitting. The window goes down and she just flares up. “So, am I going to get an am sorry or what?”
“Sorry?” our friend says obviously more out of disbelief than not hearing her.
“I said, am I getting an am sorry for keeping me waiting or what?” she spits back at him
“I’m sorry” our friend says.
She then walks over to where I am sitting, opens the door and says, “Move over”.
Now let me confess, before and unfortunately even after I met the lord, I’ve always had an on-going battle with anger. Not necessarily the flaring up at any time type of anger, more like the sleeping volcano erupting kind. Although more often than not, I have won the battle by not losing my temper, the temptation has always been so strong. So here I was already irritated by the fact that ladies (if I can still call her that) can be so infuriatingly rude even when they don’t need to be, when she pulls this one. So, what do I do? Pull her by her hair, give her a head butt, power driver and body slam? Or settle for a back hand slap with my left hand for good measure? (Well, at least in my dreams) NO!  I simply grit my teeth; smile (even if it is forced) and say, “please could you go round the other way?”
“That would be a bit dangerous because of oncoming traffic. So, if you could get down I’ll go in.” she says.
Nothing wrong with that right? Well, now when I’m not insanely angry and now that I am walking in the fruit of the spirit, yes there’s nothing wrong with what she just said. So what’s the big deal? Why am I going on and on?

THIS is the big deal. A lot of young ladies today complain about why they are not getting married. And keep looking in the wrong direction blaming the men, other women or even some diabolical force – every one but themselves – when the real reason is that young lady staring back at you in the mirror. Yes, my dear YOU!!!  I hate to sound sanctimonious but the truth is that your character is like perfume. It hangs around you all the time. It is that permanent scent that you carry with you everywhere you go. I could smell that young lady’s scent almost a mile away. There was just something about the scowl on her face, the body language, I honestly couldn’t put my finger on it till she opened her mouth. It was the scent of a bad attitude. Eventually, we explained it away as insecurities but I guess the reason why we never change our bad attitude is because we justify them under any other name but that which it should really be called: A BAD ATTITUDE. Sometimes, it is just not acceptable no matter where you are coming from or what you’ve been through to be carrying around a chip on your shoulder.

First things first, it wouldn’t have killed her to say hello to the people in the car (everyone there was even older than her anyway) before barking out her frustrations and honestly did she have to do it in public? Isn’t that a sign that she can fight her husband in public? (Men, take a hint). I’ve tried to figure out what it is that makes some ladies stand out; that thing that makes you think ‘there is something special about that girl’even if she is not so pretty. While some other girl may be pretty but there is just something about her that makes you want to throw up. I think the Bible explains it like this:
…and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved
and among those who are perishing.
2 Cor 2:14-15 NKJV
The fragrance that we wear that sets up apart is the fragrance of Christ. That’s what makes you different from the average girl on the street. It is the fruit of the spirit: LOVE, that makes you patient, kind, unselfish, not rude, etc. The only way you can be sure that the stench of a bad attitude does not over power your £80 bottle of Cacharel, Elizabeth Arden, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, etc is to accept Christ and to live your life full of the fruit of His spirit.

That said, it wouldn’t hurt for you to still get yourself a nice bottle of perfume because I discovered from feminine magazine that at a recent study, it was discovered that the thing that turns men off the most is a woman with body odour. So ladies, please take note especially now that the weather is so hot which means more frequent baths and lots of deodorant. Until next month please take the time to be nice to people. It doesn’t hurt and you never can tell, it may just open a door that will change the rest of your life for the better. Be good and God bless you.
Love you,
Pastor Mildred.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Just Us Girls . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.