April Showers Bring May Flowers
When I was a kid, my mother taught me a couplet: “April showers / bring May flowers.” This little rhyme is designed to encourage us to remember that just because it may rain one month doesn’t necessarily mean that things can’t be beautiful the next. We have had our share of rain! Nevertheless, we can expect great beauty to appear in this world because of it. Not too long ago, I was down in the Austin area taking photos at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I love seeing all the wonderful blooming flowers. The Mountain Laurels gave such a fragrant odor!It is intoxicating. I could sit and smell them all day! God’s perfume is the best.
Are you the fragrance of Christ?
I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 2:14-16: “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, 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. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?” Paul is talking about our influence and how we smell to others when they see our Christian life. Do we allow April showers to produce May flowers in our life? Does the aroma of Christ waft sweetly around us leading to life? I hope that all who know us will see that it does. The trials we bear ultimately produce sweet fragrance if we are obedient. Unfortunately, those who are perishing spiritually smell nothing but death and do not see the good in others’ lives.