Good morning…
I diligently discerned yesterday’s morning message, learning from a new-to-me-word: nosegay. I scheduled the blog post to come to you at 3:00 am, and then I drove through rainy traffic, arriving late to my 9:30 meeting. As our group did a check-in, sharing what was on our hearts as we entered the room, the first thing I said was, “I have just spent some intense hours learning about the word nosegay.” Before I could explain, the woman to my right suddenly said, “A nosegay is what young girls would carry around in their pockets during World War II. They would hold the fragrant flowers up to their nose to hide the stench of the decaying corpses.”
God’s timing is so cool and our learning never ends.
This new facet of the word nosegay came into my world the morning after Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2018, a special day of commemorating the 100th anniversary of world leaders signing the Armistice ending World War I and its four years of bloody conflict. For nosegays to be held in the hand of young women during wartime, offering sweet smells to their grieving nostrils, this fresh fact fascinated me.
Wars have raged on from generation to generation at the very same time fresh, fragrant flowers have grown wild in the fields, day after day, year after year, morning by morning. Every day, we fight wars of one type or another. Every day, we are surrounded by the thick stench of sacrifice. Yet, every day, there are also sweet-smelling flowers to cut, to gather, to bring to our noses as we savor the sweet scent of simple beauty.
Our moment-by-moment choice is clear. This morning and this afternoon, this evening and this night, what will fill our nose, our lungs, and our whole being, breath after breath?
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God (Ephesians 5:1-2, NLT).
…Sue…
