The Coffee-Bean Bowl

<p>I&rsquo;m not a coffee drinker, but one sniff of coffee beans brings me a moment of both solace and wistfulness. When our teenage daughter Melissa was making her bedroom uniquely hers, she filled a bowl with coffee beans to permeate her room with a warm, pleasant scent.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s been nearly two decades since Melissa&rsquo;s earthly life ended in a car accident at age seventeen, but we still have that coffee-bean bowl. It gives us a continual, aromatic remembrance of Mell&rsquo;s life with us.</p> <p>Scripture also uses fragrances as a reminder. Song of Songs refers to fragrances as a symbol of love between a man and a woman (see 1:3; 4:11, 16). In Hosea, God&rsquo;s forgiveness of Israel is said to be &ldquo;fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon&rdquo; (Hosea 14:6). And Mary&rsquo;s anointing of Jesus&rsquo; feet (John 12:3), which caused the house of Mary and her siblings to be &ldquo;filled with the fragrance of the perfume&rdquo; (John 12:3), pointed ahead to Jesus&rsquo; death (see v. 7).</p> <p>The idea of fragrance can also help us be mindful of our testimony of faith to those around us. Paul explained it this way: &ldquo;We are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing&rdquo; (2 Corinthians 2:15).</p> <p>Just as the scent of coffee beans reminds me of Melissa, may our lives produce a scent of Jesus and His love that reminds others of their need of Him.</p>