(Joni sings:)
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love what Thou dost love
And do what Thou wouldst do.
Oh, I love that song. I love thinking about the breath of God. I thought of this the other day when a breath of fresh air was still cool with spring. It touched my cheek. I was outside and I caught a whiff of someone’s fresh laundry — it brought back memories of when I used to help my mother hang sheets and shirts on the clothesline.
Come to think of it, I not only love the breath of spring, I love the summer smells of a beautiful day in June. Someone’s lawn freshly cut... the smell of wet grass... the fragrance of roses along your backyard fence... and that great smell of burgers sizzling on the grill.
This is the month that honeysuckle is out. And whenever I breathe in that sweet scent, it reminds me of riding horseback passing so many honeysuckle bushes along the river road which borders our farm in Maryland.
When the air is fresh with fragrance, you can recall so many crystal-clear memories. That’s what fragrances do. They say that if a memory is connected with some sort of aroma or fragrance, one’s recall of that memory is even more compelling than if there were no scent.
This fact alone makes 2 Corinthians 2:14‑15 all the more meaningful where it says, “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... we are to God the aroma of Christ.” In this Scripture the apostle is drawing a word picture about those victory parades that the Roman military used to hold after a victorious conquest — they would lead prisoners in chains and they would put them behind the conqueror’s chariot and there would be servants bearing bowls of incense and the fragrance would permeate the entire parade route. The Roman leaders did this for a reason: they wanted to imprint on everyone’s memory the importance of the victory.
Some good spiritual point there, huh? The apostle, as well as the Romans, knew the power of fragrance. The verse in Corinthians is another way of saying, “I want to live in such a way that God will be perpetually reminded of the sacrifice and devotion of His Son, Jesus. I want my words and deeds to bring to God’s mind fragrant memories of the earthly life of His Son.”
The world is stale and stuffy. So pray with me today. Breathe on us, breath of God and fill us with life anew. Make our lives a sweet-smelling savor, a memory of Jesus, to you.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends