When I was a little girl, I remember every Sunday morning hearing my mom in the kitchen preparing a pot roast to go into the oven to slow cook while we were at church.  I remember hearing the tap, tap, tap of her feet on the wooden basement steps as she carried up the potatoes and onions that would find their place around the roast. 

You may be wondering what prompted this memory and where exactly this is going.  Well, the key verse in the devotion I read this morning was: “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)

“A pleasing aroma”… mmmmm, yes.  That’s what met our noses when we came back home after church on Sundays.  Oh it smelled so good—the roast, the onions…my mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

Now as an adult, reflecting back on this Sunday routine, I am struck by something.  As mom gathered the ingredients for our dinner, I don’t  remember smelling anything (except if I went in the kitchen as she was peeling the onions and wiping the tears—haha).  But when we walked in the door after church, ohhhhh the “pleasing aroma” that had permeated the entire house. 

What made the difference from no smell to pleasing aroma?  Three or four hours in a hot oven.  

It strikes me that life can be a lot like that Sunday dinner.  God collects just the right ingredients for a wonderful meal.  He allows life circumstances which may leave me feeling “peeled and exposed” like the potato. And then He brings along “strong odor situations” that bring tears to my eyes like the peeling of those onions.  And then even after these peeling and tear-inducing experiences, when I think God surely knows I can’t take anymore, God chooses to turn up the heat and put me in the oven—leaving me in the pot of my circumstances for what seems like an eternity. 

We all have times in life when we don’t understand what God is doing.  James 1:2-4 says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (NIV) 

How can I consider it I “pure joy” when God brings potato and onion situations into my life and then turns up the heat?! 

I think the answer can be found in Romans 8:28-29–“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  For God…chose them to become like his Son…” (NLT)

We know that God causes everything — the potato-peeling situations, the tear-inducing onion situations, the hours in the hot oven of your circumstances — God causes EVERYTHING to work together for our good.  And what is the “good” that comes from those less than enjoyable life circumstances?  After persevering through the peeling, the tears, and the heat, our lives will produce the pleasing aroma of becoming more like Jesus. 

God chose me to be His, and then He chooses to allow things to enter my life that will make me like His Son.

Just like the ingredients of my childhood Sunday dinner probably wouldn’t have been as tasty by themselves, and just like there was no pleasing aroma filling our home without hours in the oven, so it is with our lives. We need to trust that God knows what He is doing in the experiences He allows in our lives.  We have to trust that He knows how long to leave us in the hot oven of our circumstances. 

The “pleasing aroma” that our lives will put off — the peace we show in the midst of our trials, the trust in our Lord that we display — will make people look at us and wonder what our secret is.  They will wonder how we are able to react to things as we do. 

Our “pleasing aroma” attitude may be something that draws people to ask “why”…and then…oh then, we can share our Jesus!