I Smell Like Chlorine

I've only been swimming six times (twice a week for three weeks), but I'm already learning to love this smell.  Granted, it's kinda stinky and not a nice pretty smell like my Ellen Tracy perfume, but it's a smell of a good morning workout.

Three weeks ago, when I started, I could barely get down 25 yards to the end of the pool.  Today I managed two sets of 100.  I was supposed to do more, but the rest ended up being 50s.  Let's just say, I've come a long way in three weeks, and the scent of chlorine on my skin verifies that I am totally doing this thing.  I'm training for a triathlon!

I wonder if married triathlete couples find the scent of chlorine on each other attractive, because I doubt my husband finds it attractive, nor these dorky goggles I wear...

So, this got me searching for "frangrance" in the bible to see what kinds of things God tells us about smells.  I found these verses interesting, from 2 Corinthians 2:14-17:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.  And who is equal to such a task?  Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.  On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

What I love about this verse is it gives me such an empowering feeling.  Because I love Jesus so much, God will use me to triumphantly spread the knowledge of Christ throughout the world like a beautiful fragrance.  To those that accept the aroma of Christ, it is a beautiful fragrance to them, bringing life, and those that do not accept it, it is an odor of death.  When Paul asks the question, "And who is equal to such a task?" He's setting us up for the answer, that spreading Christ's love and sharing the gospel is a profitless job.  If we are truly in Christ, meaning we love Jesus with all our hearts and believe he is the son of God who made an enormous sacrifice so that we would have everlasting life, then we spread the knowledge of Christ out of obedience to our one true God and expect nothing in return.


Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, and for sending us your precious son, Jesus.  Before coming to Christ, we were all walking dead.  Lifeless creatures that would surely perish.  You are so powerful, and so full of grace that you would help us.  You breathed the word into our hands, into our minds, and ultimately into our hearts so that we would know the love our Savior has for us.  Now it is our duty to share this fragrant news, and we do so with grateful hearts.  Amen.