If each season of childhood had a scent, the soft baby fuzz of a newborn would be the fragrance of those tiny early months. Along with spit-up, pampers and endless loads of laundry aromas. The toddler years are more of a sticky smell of squishy hands trying to do it all themselves. And lil boys start to get that, well, lil boy smell of sweat and grass and sunshine that sends them straight to the bath full of protests every evening. And if the tween years had a scent, it would definitely be Axe body spray.
Recently one of my middle schoolers (yes, I have TWO at ONCE) told me a hilarious story about his study hall. They are not allowed to talk above a whisper and mostly all you hear is the teacher loudly shushing for 55mins, but one day there was a new sound and smell filling the air. No, not that...thankfully! When a classmate set down his bag the Axe body spray concealed within it started spraying, filling the room with its oxygen-sucking, eye-stinging, cough-enducing essence. Students were gasping air while the teacher gave the poor kid a lecture on endangering others who have asthma. Thirty years from now he will remember that moment and cringe, but hopefully grin, as the smell from his own son's axe body spray fills his home.
One day while grocery shopping one of my boys brought me a bottle of his own Axe spray and asked me what I thought. That is one of those boy-mom moments I slowed down to capture knowing all too soon he will care more about what other females in his life think about how he smells.
As a parent I often feel like I'm making up the rules as we go, just trying to keep up with their changing needs and abilities. When they were toddlers we instituted rules to keep them safe from the hot stove and steep stairs. Now that they are tweens and teens we enforce rules to keep the air quality in our home within breathable limits. Good or bad, any smell that is overpowering is encouraged outdoors. So now he can only put it on his mom-approved body spray outside with lots of reminders that even tiny drop GOES A LONG WAY!
That principle applies to any smell and too often I think I leave the wrong scent...more of a tired-frazzled smell. That is often the scent of motherhood but I want it to be much more. God is challenging and growing me here.
I'm re-reading my favourite book of the year, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God. (If you've been around me long enough to have a deep conversation within the last six months I've quoted this book to you, told you to read it and may have even thrust a copy in your hands.) A lot of the things Skye wrote really challenge me, one of them being:
"many of the people accomplishing the most for God seemed to reflect his character the
least. Rather than being marked by peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and love,
many of them were anxious, impatient, rude, aggressive, and sometimes even spiteful."
(p.11).
Ouch. I'm finding that how I walk with God and the need to live within healthy boundaries has a lot to do with the aroma I leave behind. Hopefully not an overpowering Axe body spray type of odor, but the loving essence of Christ. When my kids remember the scent of their childhoods, I hope the fragrance of God's incredible, unconditional, and steadfast love for them fills their senses.
