Fire

Walking back to the car from the FCF service I paused and took in the smell of my surroundings.

"Someone is burning something, it smells good!" I said to my friends as we continued walking.

A sudden realization hit me at that moment. What is it about fires that fascinates the human heart? Or the smokey aroma that fills our senses with delight? If an object is placed in the fire it is consumed, therefore releasing a fragrance. Not all burning fragrances are of a pleasing nature, like burning hair, or plastic understandably so. Yet there are those fragrances such as candles, campfires, incense and the like that bring found memory, comfort, and delight.

What does it mean to burn? According to Webster's to burn means, " flame or glow while consuming a material such as coal or wood". If the Lord is the Loving flame of love and therefore much burn away all that hinders love, would not a fragrance arise from the offering of our heart?

"Set me as a seal upon your heart, a seal upon your arm for love is as strong as death jealousy is fierce as the grave. It flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it"

Song of Songs 8: 6-7

There is no fragrance without burning...