Mangia!

I was reading in my Bible this morning from 2 Corinthians 2:14 where the Apostle Paul wrote,

“But I thank God, who always leads us in victory because of Christ. Wherever we go, God uses us to make clear what it means to know Christ. It's like a fragrance that fills the air.  To God we are the aroma of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are dying.  To some people we are a deadly fragrance, while to others we are a life-giving fragrance…” (God’s Word ©)

As I read about “fragrances that fill the air” and “the aroma of Christ,” I couldn’t help but to think back to my childhood, living in an 100% Italian household, with a mom who had a passion for cooking.  To her, as with my grandmother before her, cooking was a very part of who she was!  Dinner wasn’t just something the family did together, it was an event that started first thing in the morning.

It really didn’t matter if it was a school day or on a weekend, I can recall coming into the kitchen in the morning and not only find my mom preparing breakfast for the family, but also planning the evening meal, pulling out foods that needed to be defrosted, making sure that she had the proper seasonings, spices and side dishes and then running out back to the family garden to see what goodies it could contribute to the dinner extravaganza!

On most days, final preparations and cooking began just about the time we got home from school.  My mom started working a part-time job when I was in seventh grade, but it never seemed to interrupt her cooking schedule!  She left for her job managing a Real Estate office after I left for school and was normally back home by the time I returned from school.

One of my favorite days was Monday, because I knew that as soon as I hit the long, curved driveway up to our front door, that my olfactory sensory neurons would go into overdrive as the overpowering and taste-tantalizing aroma of my mom’s pasta sauce drifted from the front kitchen window!  You see, Mondays was always spaghetti and meat balls day, and believe-you-me… I’d start dreaming about it as I watched the clock in my last period class tick down to the bell! 

I’ve probably said it before, but pasta is still my favorite meal.  I could eat it every night… and come to think of it, Piper did serve different renditions of it multiple times a week for our growing family!  I usually got to cook my own rendition of my mom’s pasta sauce and meatballs on one of those days!

And the tradition is still going on as I sent my youngest son my recipe for pasta and meatballs just last week so that he could surprise his wife on her birthday!  I also encouraged him to keep my mom’s other tradition of tossing the last raw meatball to the family dog… to which Fiver can attest… that I still do as well! 

So, whether it was the wonderful fragrances of the many Italian meals that my mom cooked, the strong fragrance of garlic that seemed to permeate everything in the kitchen, the aroma of fresh coffee in the percolator, the sweet sensations of the home baked goodies that she would surprise us with, or just the joy that she emanated as she danced around the kitchen… today, I always find myself aware of and drawn to the many fragrances and aromas the fill the air wherever I may go.

The idea of me having the ability to be a “life-giving” or a “deadly” aroma or fragrance to other people really shook me up this morning.  In the course of reviewing my childhood memories, I thought about how good, joyful, warm and even safe those wonderful aromas that filtered from my mom’s kitchen made me feel. 

Then I thought of the one meal that she occasionally made which literally turned my stomach and made me want to run the other direction… and yes… you guessed it… liver and onions! The awful and raunchy (to me) smell of liver that wafted to my nose as my mom placed it in the frying pan would bring about an almost instant dread and fear of what happened the last time I attempted to swallow it… (no explanation needed)!  Thank God that my mom finally gave up trying and found other foods that gave us the same nutriments as the liver.

This may sound funny to you… but I’d much rather come off as the aroma of delicious pasta to someone else, than the stench of a plate of liver disguised under a mountain of onions!

Along with “a distinctive, typically pleasant smell,” one of the meanings of the word aroma as found in the Oxford Online Dictionary is “a subtle, pervasive quality or atmosphere of a particular type.”  This tells me that we can carry along with us a sweet aroma or a stench of foul air, by the quality of the atmosphere that surrounds us.

As a Christian, I can attest to the fact that this is true… because I first experienced that atmosphere whenever I was around my future wife in high school.  The word pervasiveness is defined as “the quality of spreading widely or being present throughout an area or a group of people.”  As I’ve stated in many blog posts, the quality or presence of Jesus Christ was simply all over Piper and present throughout everything she did… and she most likely never had to even mention the name of Jesus or say anything about church!  It was just the sweet aroma of the love, peace, patience and acceptance of Jesus that hovered in the atmosphere around her!

And you know?  That’s exactly what Paul was talking about in our scripture above… and after having intimately known Piper for close to 50 years, I can say without a doubt, that it was pretty much unplanned, unrehearsed and totally off-the-cuff for her.  Like I said previously, it’s like it had become a part of her DNA!

That’s the aroma I want the people whom I cross paths with during the day, to catch a scent of from me!  How about you? 

That being said.  It is not something that happens overnight.  It is quality that one has to develop.  It takes a decision, an attitude and a hunger for the greater things of God.  Piper came from a strong Christian family, but she also had a hunger that to me, brought her beyond the rest of her family.  She tended to surround herself with mature Christians in her home church and continued to do so along with me as we dated and then got married.

For us it was a lifelong quest… not a job, but a joyous adventure in faith!  Some people thought that we were crazy for going to Bible School at 53 years of age.  But we knew we were called to go then and I am still going forth in and for Him today!

So… maybe it is NOT so crazy to want to have the same affect in other people’s lives, that the sweet aroma of marinara sauce that’s being poured over a plate of penne pasta has on one’s olfactory sensory neurons…

Now I’m getting hungry for more of God… and for a plate of pasta… MANGIA!

Have a great new week, and as you do… Keep EXPECTING God’s best in your life!