Giving Stinks

When asked what giving smells like, the smells come flooding up my nostrils and I am transported back to the slums of Mexico and I am 14 years old.  Sewer.  Body odor.  More sewer. 

Sometimes, when asked what giving smells like, the stench of urine waifs up my nostrils as if I was standing in the very hot and humid house of an elderly person I was visiting because I knew they were lonely.  Again, I was young.

Rarely are the smells comforting or kind to my nostrils.  They usually burn my nostril hairs.  Soiled clothes, musty linens, sweat.

For as much as the odors permeate the air, love trumps all. 

The tearful toothless smile from the woman who sees her new 10X12 home that has four walls, windows, a door, a floor and a roof.

Smell?  What smell.  All I see is Jesus standing in front of me. 

The chubby hot hand of the elderly as we end our time in prayer and when they start praying, I am the one crying for it feels as though I am in the presence of God...and I am.  Who said anything about a foul odor?

Then there was the woman who was so poor she couldn't feed her family and her house was so hot I wondered how she paid her power bill and how the smells of her home seemed amplified because of the heat... rotting something, litter box somewhere?, dirty diapers? was that supper cooking on the stove?  As we walked in, trip after trip showering her with food and gifts, all she could do was walk around, ringing her hands and praising God in Spanish as tears streamed down her face.  Ah, the smell of her candles burning as she prays to Jesus.  That's all I smell now. 

Where does your nose take you when asked what giving smells like?  Am I the only one who actually remembers the foul odors and then, once I am transported back to the actual giving can't smell it anymore once I am "there?" 

I really hope I can always smell these smells when I remember.  I'm afraid if I stop smelling them, I might stop remembering and that would be very bad for this heart. 

#itsaboutgiving covers a lot of ground.  Today smells.  Only the Lord knows what the next post will bring. 

So, I ask you again, what does giving smell like to you?
#itsaboutgiving