The time with the B.O.

I was at the gym this morning, loving life and thanking God for healing my finger so quickly. What happened to my finger you ask? Well yesterday morning my finger ended up between a barbell and the bottom of a bench, causing it to swell by the hour and turn purple, black and blue. It was painful, I couldn't hold much with that hand and was afraid it would mess up my plans to work out the rest of the week. But this morning the swelling had gone down quite a bit and the pain was almost nonexistent.

Anyway, where was I... oh yeah, so I'm at the gym, thinking of all good things when suddenly, the smell of lavender and lemongrass from my somewhat natural deodorant starts to dissipate. I begin to question my choice of deodorant for today and my inhales become stronger as I try very hard to remember if I did in fact use deodorant before leaving the house. "Maybe I just forgot..." I thought to myself, "...it wouldn't be the first time". At this point, I start to sweat [a lot more], which would have been normal if I'd been in the middle of my workout, but I've only been 10 minutes. I can't help but wonder if it would be totally weird if I dig my nose into my underarm arm pit to confirm my suspicions, so I can spare the rest of the dedicated gym-goers who made it there before 9am such odor pollution... when suddenly, the odor disappears, along with the person next to me... and all is well again, I can even smell the lavender and lemongrass again.

(insert sigh of relief)

This moment has played over and over in my head, as if God has something to teach me, and a few thoughts came to mind:

The first thought is how proud I am of myself for not saying (whether out loud or in my head) something mean or snarky, or anything along those lines about the situation. Instead, I thought of the times I have forgotten deodorant (come on, we've all been there at one point or another) and how uncomfortable of a situation it is. I thought of how some of the times I've had the worst B.O. it's been due to hormones, not poor hygiene. I thought of cultural differences that sometimes influence people's body odor.... I thought of so many things, but judging this person wasn't one of them; and this is not because I'm that nice or has such a kind heart. It is because I have asked God to help me show grace towards others and to help me see people through His eyes a little more. It's because I am now surrounded by friends who don't meet to badmouth others, but to encourage one another instead, like God calls us to do. It is because I had a problem with my identity in Christ that always let me to deflect on others, but I am now in a church that speaks tons into our identity in Christ, through which I have come to understand and accept and live in my identity in Jesus Christ. It is because of Him that I am changed still changing. So I shouldn't say I'm proud of myself as much as I am in awe of my God, who likes to work in our hearts, even in mine.

The second thought I will leave for another post, because I don't like doing super long posts, so instead, I'll ask you this:

Are you being intentional about showing grace to others?

When you see people, do you see a man or a woman or a child for whom Christ died on the cross, just like He did for you and me?

Are you prayerfully considering your friendships and investing more into those that are edifying?

Are you living in your true identity in Christ?

Are you letting God work in you?