I'd like to be, under the sea...

"the sea and the things that are in it"

Revelation 10:6

I was cleaning out some old stuff in the garage the other day, and came across my water shoes.  I'm not really a water person, so they'd gotten a little bedraggled, being left in the garage for a long time without being used... dusty and a little spider-inhabited.

The last time I used them was on Maui.  We'd gone for my brother-in-law's wedding, and done some snorkeling while we were there.  I love snorkeling.  I first discovered it on Kauai, and couldn't get enough.  Fishes of all colors and descriptions, and even some turtles.  Oh, and rocks.  And coral.  So cool...

Our kids weren't very interested in it on Kauai, or on Oahu.  They were young, and it was understandably difficult for them to put up with the snorkels in their mouths.  So they played on the shore with family members while we snorkeled.

But when we were on Maui, they were a few years older, so they both gave it a shot.  I absolutely loved being able to share that experience with them.

So I picked up my water shoes the other day with a bit of a happysad sigh... happy for the memories, but slightly sad wishing we could go back to Hawaii sometime soon and because I was throwing them out ~ since they were spidery and bedraggled and maybe even had a hole in the toe.

But then, as I walked to the trashcan, I caught a whiff of saltwater.  So I held them a little closer to my nose, and sure enough, they still smelled like the ocean.  It's been three years since they were in the ocean.  But there it was. 

I want to be like that.  I want to give off the fragrance of Him to the people around me.  Even if I'm going through hard times, feeling bedraggled and spidery.  Even if I'm dry and full of holes and feeling like I'm not being used for any great purpose.  When I look at those water shoes, I think of the ocean, and the joy I found in His creations there.  When people look at me, I want them to see ~ and smell ~ and hear ~ Him.

~ "through us He diffuses 

the fragrance of His knowledge 

    in every place" ~

2 Corinthians 2:14