apple pie.

okay, i have decided that what i want to be is an apple pie fume.

fume is possibly not the best word for the scent of an apple pie. and apple pie is not my personal favorite, but it has classic imagery attached, so go with me on this one.

picture this scene you may have seen in an illustrated book somewhere, beginning with a quaint, country kitchen on a pleasant summer evening. the low rays of the evening sun are seeping in through the single window over the sink and illuminating the dust floating in the air in its beam. a tire swing and playing children are visible through the window. a warm apple pie sits in the windowsill with lines of heat and sweet aroma floating above it. the “fumes” make their way through the open window and reach the noses of the children playing outside, enticing them into the house to partake of the pie’s crispy deliciousness.

that’s who i want to be for my savior. i want to quietly but strongly entice people to partake of his goodness by putting out an aroma directly from the source. the scent itself exists only because of the pie and for the purpose of alerting the senses of the pie’s existence. who wants to try a pie if it has a not-so-pleasant scent? if i claim to know jesus, my life should say something about him and draw others to desiring him as well.

it sounds silly, maybe, to compare the lord to a pie and myself to a swirly line rising from it - but for me, it paints a picture of who i am aiming to be…so, it works.

so, i was thinking on my status as an aroma drawing others to my creator, and realizing that currently, i am doing a pretty poor job of it. i seriously forget that i am not the apple pie! okay, seriously - enough of that analogy.

feeling pretty discouraged at my inadequacy, my jesus brought his perfect comfort and encouragement as he never fails to do. an e-mail from a friend led me to read psalm 46 today, and the second half of verse 10 was the part that spoke to my heart today:

“i will be exalted among the nations,
i will be exalted in the earth!”

it doesn’t say he’ll be exalted IF i do a good enough job of portraying to the world his goodness. that’s giving myself way too much credit. there are zero stipulations and no question as to whether or not he will be exalted. he WILL be exalted. amen! amen that it has absolutely nothing to do with my fickle, flighty self. amen that he even allows so unworthy a candidate a chance to emit his sweet, sweet aroma.

amen that when we fail to to express his goodness to the world, nature takes up the slack and sings the only song it knows. amen that the wind can whisper the lord’s goodness to a buddhist monk. amen that the ridiculous colors of sunset can take away the breath of a new york businessman and bring him to his knees - crying out to his creator for something more.

he is so big. i can’t believe how small i make him every single day of my life.

just a sweet reminder to my heart today.