Right now, I breathe in and absorb the rich cocoa butter aroma of my skin cream. First, it has softened my skin, and now it serves as a calming agent for my soul as I relax after a bath.

The sense of smell is such an amazing gift. It can calm, as mentioned above, or quickly bring about nausea in unforgiving circumstances. It can take us back to childhood frivolity in an instant, or serve to generate sudden floods of sadness. It is unexpectedly received in a whiff of lilacs on a spring morning, or invited with affection as we lean in to smell the tiny peach-fuzzy head of a newborn. It comforts with familiar pleasures like the sandy beaches and ocean waves of vacation days or freshly brewed coffee on a lazy Saturday morning.

As we breathe it in – the aromas of seasons and flavors and days gone by – we praise the great Creator of it all. The honeysuckle bush and the autumn evening campfire. The scent of a loved one as we pass by a stranger on the street, and the promise of a wonderful meal ahead that wafts throughout the parking lot of the steakhouse. An arrangement of flowers that were sent with love, and the warm wax of candles that glow on Christmas Eve.

How sacred is He who breathes it all out in a loving bouquet. How blessed are we who can breathe it all in!