Lauren Sparks - The Sparks Notes

Are there pleasing aromas coming from your kitchen yet? Christmas is right around the proverbial corner, and I probably have more olfactory memories associated with Yuletide than any other time. During my formative years, my mom often made wassail. Traditional wassails are alcoholic, but I assure you my very Baptist mother’s was without fermentation. She used tea brewed with cinnamon and cloves, then added orange juice and lemon. I have to admit, it’s not my favorite drink. But even still, any combination of these smells takes me back to the church parties and family gatherings my parents hosted in the little house on Rita Street.

My sisters and I also made cream cheese cookies with Mama every Christmas. We used cookie cutters to shape them into candy canes and snowmen, elves and angels. When I bake a batch to golden brown and catch a whiff, I am reminded of traditions and family and cookies that were just a little extra special because of the cream cheese in the dough.

Maybe the smells you associate with Christmas differ from mine. The sharp, sweet scent of peppermint or the tangy oranges you peeled straight from your stocking. Hot cocoa or logs burning in the fireplace. The freshness of a real evergreen Christmas tree or candied fruit cake (hey, you do you). Or if you don’t live in the South like me, maybe the crisp smell of newly fallen snow signals the season.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?”

Oh, that I will be up to the task! Just like oranges and cinnamon immediately make me think of Jesus’ birthday, I want everything about me to remind others of Him. May He be all over me so others see Christ instead of me. And may I spread His life-giving scent all around.

Lord, make me a pleasing aroma this season that others recognize as You.

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We are too busy. Everybody knows it, lots of people feel it, but not many of us know what to do about it. And this time of year we usually ramp up the hustle and bustle. There are so many things culture – or our own traditions – tell us we must be doing. Shopping, wrapping, baking, decorating, going to parties and events. It can be a hoot, or it can be exhausting. It can be meaningful, or anxiety inducing.

Every year in December, I encourage my yoga students to evaluate their holiday activities and consider eliminating, or revamping, those that don’t bring them joy and peace. And I read a meditation to them. The source or author I have forgotten, so I can’t give credit where it’s due. But I think it still deserves a share here:

This is the beginning of a new day. I have been given this day to use as I will. I can waste it, or I can use it for good. What I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil; success, not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it.

The pastor at the church we attend speaks often of lingering in God’s presence. But this past Sunday he preached on hurrying to linger with Jesus. The second chapter of Luke tells a familiar story to believers celebrating Christmas. Here we read about the birth of Jesus and the host of angels that appeared to a group of shepherds in the field to tell them about it.

Verses 15 and 16 read, “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger.” These young men heard the best news the world has ever known – that the Savior of the world came down to earth in the form of a baby to forgive the sins of all who believe.

The Holy Scriptures do NOT indicate that the shepherds sat down and discussed their options, or debated whether or not the announcement was true. The didn’t clean themselves up first or make arrangements with their families. They HAULED IT to be with Jesus. Oh, I’ve been thinking about this message all week.

When was the last time you woke up excitedly anxious to spend time with the Lord? I hope your answer is better than mine. If I’m honest, instead of hurrying to get to Him, I often hurry through my time with Him to get to something else. But when I do linger in His presence – studying His word intently, searching for true meaning – blessings abound. Like one of those plush blankets we wrap up in, His love envelops me when I sit and listen to Him during prayer.

The richness of time with Jesus is better than the most expensive gift given this holiday, because it changes us. And that is definitely worth trading my time. For this reason, and so many others, I’m following the example of the shepherds. I want my rushing to be in His direction this Christmas.